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slash primal space on the third of
January 2019 China became the first
nation to successfully land a spacecraft
on the far side of the moon this
incredible achievement showed just how
impressive China's space program has
become with the most amount of annual
launches and the capability of launching
humans into orbit China is now regarded
as one of the most powerful space
programs in the world but among all of
the success there is a dark side to
China's space program with their
extremely relaxed safety standards
Rockets are frequently launched over
inhabited areas sometimes crashing into
populated towns and villages in this
video we're going to look at why China
began launching over inhabited areas in
the first place we're also going to look
at how their quest to develop reusable
rockets might fix this issue altogether
in the midst of the Cold War the US and
Soviet Union were constantly
demonstrating their advancements and
nuclear weapons and missile technology
in 1957 the Soviets launched the
first-ever satellite into orbit and
China realized it needed to create its
own space program in order to keep up
over the course of two decades China
built three main launch sites capable of
launching missiles and satellites into
orbit
these launch sites were built thousands
of kilometres inland to make them less
exposed to enemy attacks but this came
at a cost
since Rockets had to be launched
directly over populated areas when
choosing the best location for a launch
site there are a couple of factors that
come into play as a rocket leaves the
launch pad it pitches over to gain the
incredible amount of horizontal velocity
needed to get into orbit because of this
launch sites are typically located on
the coast we're falling rocket parts can
safely fall into the ocean another
factor that determines the location of a
launch site is the latitude launch sites
closer to the equator benefit from
the extra speed of the Earth's rotation
meaning the rocket requires less energy
to get into orbit but in the midst of
the Cold War and with tensions at an
all-time high
China went inland and further north for
their launch sites throughout the 60s
and 70s China quickly became one of the
major powers in space creating heavy
lift rockets and successfully launching
and recovering a satellite but in a rush
to catch up to the American and Soviet
space programs safety standards became
less of a priority in 1996 China were
launching their largest rocket ever
built the long march 3b as soon as it
left the launch pad it immediately began
veering off course before crashing into
a nearby village 20 seconds later this
disaster killed at least six people
however many reports outside China
estimate that the death toll was in the
hundreds although this disaster was
caused by an unexpected Fault in the
rocket it didn't stop China from
launching over populated areas over the
last 10 years there have been several
reports of rocket debris falling onto
people's homes many of China's launches
take place from their seat young launch
site as the long march 3b launches the
four boosters are dropped shortly before
the enormous first stage although China
try to drop these rocket stages onto
unpopulated areas of forest there are
around 14 villages directly in the path
of the launch site a few days before
these launches take place the government
send out evacuation notices to the local
residents telling them to turn off their
power and find a safe place to hide to
make matters worse the long march 3b
rocket uses hypergolic fuel which is
extremely toxic so residents are told to
stay far away from the debris once it is
landed every nation has its own style of
operating in space but China's history
with space has led many other nations to
lose trust in them despite having one of
the most advanced space programs in the
world China has never been allowed to
participate in the International Space
Station
even though China would bring a large
amount of money to the table the u.s.
officially banned them from the ISS when
they feared China would only use the
opportunity to steal technology but when
it comes to dealing with human safety
it's not surprising that China weren't
allowed to take part but China is
finally doing something to break away
from their rocket dropping habit a new
launch site has been built on the island
of Hainan which will allow some of
China's largest rockets to launch
oversea China has started to add grid
fins to some of their rockets similar to
the one seen on the Falcon 9 this gives
the rocket the ability to steer itself
to a precise point as it falls out of
the sky although this is most likely a
sign that China is trying to develop a
reusable rocket it at least has the
benefit of saving innocent people from
falling rocket stages thanks to dashlane
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the next video
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