Tech
2 Chinese rockets fail in day
On Friday Jan. 16, 2026, China attempted two rocket launches, but both failed as the rockets exploded after takeoff. Reports are conflicting as some claim both launches were to put Shijian satellites into orbit, while other reports claim that a Long March 3B exploded with a satellite on board, but the second launch was merely a test flight of a Ceres-2 rocket. While failure is an important learning component of the research and development process, two major failures in a single day is a bad look.
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