China launches Ceres 1 Y4 commercial rocket with five satellites

JIUQUAN -- China on Wednesday launched a Ceres 1 Y4 carrier rocket placing a commercial satellite group in space.

The rocket blasted off at 2:20 pm (Beijing Time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China, sending five Jilin 1 Gaofen 03D satellites into the planned orbit.

The payloads lifted by the rocket will be used to provide commercial remote sensing services.

Developed by the Beijing-based rocket maker Galactic Energy, the Ceres 1 is a small-scale solid-propellant carrier rocket capable of sending micro-satellites into low-Earth orbit.

This was the 4th flight mission of the Ceres 1 rocket series, the launch center said.