China's commercial spaceflight company CAS Space on Wednesday successfully launched nine satellites into space from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China.

The rocket, Lijian-1 (also known as Kinetica-1) Y11, lifted off at 12:03 p.m. Beijing Time, carrying nine satellites, including one from the United Arab Emirates, and delivered them into their designated orbit. The satellites will be used in urban planning, disaster prevention and mitigation, hydrology and meteorology, among other fields.

First flight with a new intelligent avionics platform

For the first time, Lijian-1 adopted a design that deeply integrated a measurement-and-control avionics platform. The system incorporates intelligent design in both control algorithms and software.

According to the company, the rocket can self-diagnose and dynamically adjust its target orbit during large deviations in flight, ensuring satellites safely enter their intended orbit.

On the software side, a cloud-based big-data platform enables automated data collection and self-verification during ground testing, analyzing data correctness and performance envelopes. Together, this could enable unattended, remote, one-click launch operations.

Under the new architecture, the number of onboard and ground support devices has been reduced by over 50 percent and 80 percent, respectively, significantly improving versatility, portability and cost efficiency.

Shi Xiaoning, chief designer of the Lijian-1 rocket, said the new avionics technology will be carried over to Lijian-2, the company's planned reusable launch vehicle.

He added that the Lijian-1 program will next introduce parachute recovery, grid fin control and technologies for fairing reuse and precise debris landing, further improving mission adaptability and lowering launch costs.