On Wednesday morning, a "Smart Dragon 3" carrier rocket took off near Yangjiang City, Guangdong Province, marking the first space launch mission in the South China Sea.

According to the manufacturer of the "Smart Dragon 3" series, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the rocket was launched from a launch service ship at 3:24 am and soon sent a space-based internet technology demonstration satellite into its designated orbit.

This satellite named CX-19 was designed and built by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Shanghai Institute of Micro Satellite Innovation.

The Smart Dragon 3 is solid-propellant rocket model. The type made its maiden flight in December 2022 from a ship in the Yellow Sea, placing 14 satellites into orbit.

The rocket is 31 meters tall, has a diameter of 2.65 meters and can carry a liftoff weight of 140 metric tons.

It is mainly propelled by a high-performance, solid-propellant engine, which holds 71 tons of propellant that creates a thrust of 200 tons.

"Smart Dragon 3" can send multiple satellites with a total weight of 1.5 tons to a typical solar synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers.

Rocket project manager Jin Xin said that this new type of rocket is suitable for customers who want to quickly launch a large number of satellites to establish a space-based commercial network as soon as possible.

Prior to the latest mission, China had conducted six sea based launches, four of which were launched by the Long March 11 rocket, one by the Smart Dragon 3 rocket, and the other by the Ceres 1 rocket launched by Beijing's private company Galaxy Energy. All of this happened in the Yellow Sea.