A satellite that was part of a joint effort between the China and Brazil failed to enter orbit earlier this week. The satellite launched Monday in northern China, but it failed to enter the proper orbit. The satellite was going to be used to monitor deforestation of the Amazon rainforest.
The liftoff for the satellite happened atop a Chinese Long March 4B rocket from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The Chinese say that the rocket malfunctioned during the flight leading to a failure in orbital insertion for the Brazilian satellite.
The satellite was called the CBERS-3, which stands for China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 3. The Brazilian National institute for Space Research says that initial investigations into what happened suggest that the CBERS-3 satellite fell back to Earth.
This particular satellite was originally scheduled to launch in 2009, but the launch date was postponed repeatedly. There is no clear indication of why the launch was postponed so many times. A similar satellite called CBERS-4 is planned to launch in 2015.