On Wednesday afternoon, Galactic Energy, a private carrier rocket manufacturer in Beijing, carried out the fourth mission of its CERES 1 rocket, putting five Earth observation satellites into orbit.
The company said in a press release that the CERES 1 Y4 rocket was launched at 2:20 p.m. at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert in northwest China, and soon sent five optical remote sensing satellites in the Jilin 1 network into the sun synchronous orbit with high resolution 03D08, 03D51, 03D52, 03D53 and 03D54.
These satellites are manufactured by Changguang Satellite Technology Company, a state-owned enterprise in Jilin Province, Northeast China, whose mission is to obtain remote sensing images.
Galaxy Energy has achieved four consecutive orbital launches, far surpassing other private competitors. The four flights of CERES 1 sent 14 satellites into space.
There are many private rocket companies in China, but only Galaxy Energy and i-Space, another private startup headquartered in Beijing, have successfully completed the orbital mission, which refers to the space flight in which the launch vehicle deploys its payload into outer space orbit.
Before CERES 1, the SQX 1 rocket developed by i-Space launched two satellites and several experimental payloads from Jiuquan Center into Space in July 2019. The first flight of this model also marks the first orbital flight of a privately built rocket in China. However, the next three SQX 1 transmissions failed due to technical failures.
CERES 1 is about 20 meters high and 1.4 meters in diameter. It is mainly propelled by solid propellant. With a lift off weight of 33 metric tons, it can send a 300 kg satellite or multiple 300 kg satellites into a 500 km sun synchronous orbit, or a 350 kg payload into a 200 km low Earth orbit.
The designer said that CERES 1 is an ideal choice for domestic and foreign customers to find small, cost-effective launch vehicles to deploy small satellites.
The rocket made its first flight from Jiuquan Center in November 2020, sending a small communication satellite into space.
In December 2021, it completed its second flight and put five small satellites into orbit.
The third flight was carried out in August and three small satellites were launched.