Cause of Tianlong-3 Y1 Maiden Flight Failure Identified, Return-to-Zero Process Completed

At 12:17:19 on April 3, 2026, the Tianlong-3 Y1 carrier rocket lifted off on its maiden flight from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone. The mission ended in failure when the second stage lost control at 189.5 seconds into flight, prompting an automatic termination of the mission.

A return-to-zero expert panel subsequently convened to investigate the anomaly. After thorough analysis, the panel determined that the root cause of the failure was liquid oxygen being drawn toward the bottom of the rocket, which triggered secondary combustion of turbopump exhaust gases. This in turn caused the thermal protection skirt to ablate and deform, allowing high-temperature gases to penetrate the aft cabin and ignite a fire.

Corrective measures addressing the identified fault have been validated through ground testing and proven effective. The return-to-zero process has now been fully completed, and the rocket has been cleared to resume flight operations.