"Starting from this mission, we aim to achieve approximately one launch per month," Shi Xiaoning, the chief designer of a commercial carrier rocket, told CGTN.
This ambitious goal will be gradually achieved by CAS Space, a commercial space company that developed Lijian-1 (or Kinetica-1). On Wednesday, it successfully put five satellites into the preset dawn-dusk sun-synchronous orbits from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.
The five satellites, two as pioneers for the company's AIRSAT satellite constellation, a Jilin-1 SAR01A, and the Yunyao-1 21 and 22, are mainly for land surveys, meteorological observations and other fields, according to the company.
It is the fourth launch of such a rocket type, yet the first ride to the dawn-dusk orbit that has better Earth surface coverage and is more suitable for land observation.
Wednesday's launch also marked the beginning of the company's high-density launch schedule. According to Shi, there are about three more planned launches for this year and possibly eight to 10 or more launches next year.
The Lijian-1 carrier rocket blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, September 25, 2024. /CAS Space
The company is also developing Lijian-2 that uses liquid oxygen and methane as propellant, which can be a cost-efficient option for the high-density launch market for satellite internet constellations expected to form around 2028 in China.
China plans to build three satellite constellations in low-Earth orbit, each comprising at least 10,000 satellites. These satellites will need reliable and rapid launch services at low cost, and this is where commercial Chinese companies come in.
The country launched the first batch of satellites in August. The 18 satellites will be used to establish China's "Thousand Sails Constellation," or "G60 Starlink," the nation's version of SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet constellation.
Since the first launch of the Lijian-1 carrier rocket in July 2022, it has accurately sent a total of 42 satellites into their preset orbits, with a total payload mass of more than 4 tonnes.
Read more:
China launches commercial carrier rocket Lijian-1 Y3
China launches record 26 satellites atop single rocket
Video production and editor: Ding Zhiyang
Producer: Cao Qingqing