CCTV9英语新闻12月：中国的火箭发射失败，地球观测卫星被毁（在线收听）

Brazil and China have failed in their mission to launch a climate-monitoring satellite into orbit on Monday.

The China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite 3, or CBERS-3 was destroyed after a Chinese Long March 4B rocket launched from northern China’s Taiyuan. The rocket malfunctioned during the flight and the satellite failed to enter orbit. The reason for the failure is still under investigation.

The China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellite program, or CBERS is a technological cooperation program between the two countries. It develops and operates Earth observation satellites. Earth observation satellites are designed to observe Earth from orbit, with a function of environmental monitoring, meteorology and map making.

The previous launches of CBERS-1 and -2 in 1999 and 2003 were successful.