China launches new satellites from sea

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RIZHAO -- A Smart Dragon-3 (SD-3) rocket lifted off on Saturday morning from east China's Shandong Province, sending the Geely-04 constellation of 11 satellites into planned orbit.

The rocket blasted off from sea at 12:31 a.m. (Beijing Time) near the city of Rizhao. The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre conducted the offshore launch mission.

It was the 6th flight mission to use an SD-3 rocket, according to the launch centre.

With a total length of 31 meters and a weight of 140 tonnes, the SD-3 is part of China's Dragon rocket family. Unlike the Long March rockets, which form the backbone of the country's space-launch vehicles, the Dragon series has been developed specifically to meet the growing market demand for launches of small commercial low-orbit satellites and satellite networks.

Saturday's mission fully demonstrated the rocket's rapid-response and high-efficiency capabilities in the commercial launch sector, said Liu Wei, deputy chief designer of the SD-3, while adding that the rocket will meet the market's ever-growing demands in an improved manner.

Owned by Geespace, a private satellite maker and subsidiary of Geely Holding Group based in Hangzhou in east China, the Geely constellation focuses on conducting satellite Internet of Things (IoT) and inter-satellite communication trials across scenarios such as intelligent networking, marine fisheries, low-altitude transportation and emergency communications. It also carries out Earth-observation remote sensing for ecological and environmental monitoring.

The company said it had already deployed 30 satellites in a 600-kilometre orbit via previous launches. After Saturday's mission, the Geely space constellation has grown to 41 satellites -- and the total number is expected to reach 64 within the next two months. Once the constellation is complete, it will provide commercial satellite IoT communication services to users worldwide.