China places 8 satellites in space via carrier rocket

China launched a Smart Dragon 3 carrier rocket on Tuesday morning off the coast of Haiyang in Shandong province, placing eight satellites in space.

The rocket blasted off at 10:31 am from a launch service ship and soon deployed the satellites into their preset orbital positions, marking the rocket model's fourth sea-based launch, China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, maker of the Smart Dragon 3 series, announced after the liftoff.

The Smart Dragon 3 is a solid-propellant rocket model. The type is 31 meters tall, has a diameter of 2.65 meters and can carry a lift-off weight of 140 metric tons. It is mainly propelled by a high-performance, solid-propellant engine, which holds 71 tons of propellant that creates a thrust of 200 tons.

The rocket is capable of sending multiple satellites with a combined weight of 1.5 tons to a typical sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers.

Smart Dragon 3 made its maiden flight in December 2022 from a ship in the Yellow Sea, placing 14 satellites into orbit. Its second mission took place in December 2023 off Yangjiang, becoming the first sea-based rocket launch from the South China Sea. The third also happened off the coast of Yangjiang and placed nine satellites in space.

By now, China has performed 13 sea-based launches, involving four types of rockets: Long March 11, Smart Dragon 3, Ceres 1 and Gravity 1.