HELSINKI — Chinese commercial launch company Galactic Energy successfully sent eight satellites into orbit early Monday with its light-lift Ceres-1 rocket.
The Ceres-1 solid rocket lifted off at 4:07 a.m. Eastern (0807) March 17 from a transport erector launcher at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, northwest China. Galactic Energy confirmed launch success within an hour of liftoff, stating that eight satellites had been sent into 535-kilometer-altitude sun-synchronous orbits (SSO).
The payloads consisted of six Yunyao-1 (55-60) satellites, each equipped with GNSS occultation payloads. The satellites are for commercial firm Tianjin Yunyao Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd, and dedicated to obtaining information including atmospheric temperature, humidity, pressure, and ionospheric electron density to provide data for global weather forecasting.
The final two payloads were the AIRSAT (Zhongke) 06 and 07 satellites, equipped with multispectral imager payloads, for Aerospace Information Research Institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (AIRCAS), a mixed ownership enterprise. Previous AIRSAT satellites include synthetic aperture radar and optical payloads, supporting a variety of Earth observation applications.
The mission was codenamed Auld Lang Syne and was Galactic Energy’s 18th Ceres-1 launch and 17th successful flight. The company suffered its only failure in September 2023 on its 10th launch attempt. The launcher can carry 400 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit (LEO) or 300 kg to a 500-km SSO. Monday’s Ceres-1 rocket was the second produced at Galactic Energy’s research and development and production base for new-generation solid-propellant rockets in Ziyang, Sichuan Province. Competitor iSpace has also committed to new facilities in Sichuan following a funding round.
Galactic Energy plans to debut the new Ceres-2 rocket in the first half of the year. It is an upgraded variant of the Ceres-1 with an increased payload capacity of 1,600 kg to 500-km LEO, and 1,300 kg to 500-km SSO, according to Galactic Energy.
Liquid propellant rocket debut
The company is also working towards the first launch of its Pallas-1 rocket, a kerosene-liquid oxygen rocket which will later be adapted for first stage reusability. Pallas-1 has a payload capacity of 8,000 kg to a 200-kilometer-altitude LEO, while the company says a three-core-stage variant will be capable of carrying up to 30,000 kg to LEO.
Galactic Energy stated Dec. 31 that the final assembly of the first Pallas-1 rocket is underway. It is expected to launch from new facilities at Hainan commercial spaceport, while a dedicated site is being constructed at the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Area at Jiuquan spaceport.
Pallas-1 is just one of a number of state-owned and commercial liquid propellant launch vehicles that could have debut launches in 2025, with a number of these to also attempt recovery of the first stages.
China space activities in 2025
Monday’s launch was Galactic Energy’s second launch of the year and China’s 13th orbital launch attempt overall. It follows the Saturday launch of the SuperView Neo-3 (02) high-resolution remote sensing satellite and the piggybacking Tianyan-23 satellite for MinoSpace. The launch used a Long March 2D rocket, lifting off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 12:11 a.m. (0411 UTC) March 15.
China has not yet published an overview of its plans for 2025. However, the country, with expanded spaceport capabilities, megaconstellation projects underway, and new launchers expected to debut, could be targeting around 100 or more launches across the year. This would eclipse the national record 68 launches last year, and involve increasing commercial launch activity.
Major missions will include the Shenzhou-20 and 21 human spaceflight missions to the Tiangong space station and the Tianwen-2 near-Earth asteroid sample return mission, expected to launch around May.
