First satellite launched with flexible solar wing

Zhu Zhengxian, chief technology officer of GalaxySpace, said Lingxi 03 is the first in China to use a flexible solar wing.

"It is extremely thin — each layer on it is only about one millimeter thick and when the wing was folded inside the rocket (before the launch), its overall thickness was only five centimeters," he said.

"When fully unfolded in space, the array stretches to a length of about nine meters and a width of above 2.5 meters. It is characterized by a small folded size, light weight and modular design."

The launch was China's 30th this year and also the 479th flight of the Long March rocket family.