China Launches CERES-1 Y3 Carrier Rocket With Three Satellites

China launched its CERES-1 Y3 carrier rocket on August 9 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the northwest of the country. The rocket blasted off at 12:11 pm (Beijing Time), sending two Jingtai 1 satellites and an East Sea 1 satellite into the planned orbit.

Two satellites will provide commercial remote sensing services and the third one will be used to verify the multi-mode remote sensing technology of the polarization camera.

The launch marked the third flight mission of the CERES-1 rocket series. Galactic Energy Space has maintained a 100% success launch rate, setting a new record for China’s private rocket development, the company said. It also demonstrates that CERES-1 has become increasingly mature, taking the lead into a new stage of large-scale commercial launches.

CERES-1 is a four-stage small launch vehicle independently developed by Galactic Energy Space. The rocket has a diameter of 1.4 meters, a length of about 20 meters, a takeoff weight of about 33 tons, and a 500-km sun-synchronous orbit carrying capacity of 300 kilograms. The company provides high-quality and customized launch services for minor satellites for its customers in China and abroad.

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In order to better meet the needs of commercial satellites for carrying capacity and space, The CERES-1 rocket has further upgrades regarding the fairing and orbit attitude control power system. After upgrading, the diameter of the fairing has increased to 1.6 meters, the length has increased to 5.2 meters, and the total space inside the fairing has reached 8.1 cubic meters, further optimizing the loading space.