CAS Space launches Kinetica-1 rocket carrying 5 commercial satellites
CAS Space
CAS Space's Kinetica-1 solid rocket delivered five commercial Earth observation and tech demo satellites to orbit from Jiuquan.
what happened
CAS Space launched its Kinetica-1 (Lijian-1) solid-propellant rocket from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on July 23, carrying five commercial satellites to sun-synchronous orbit, per SpaceNews and Launch Library. The rideshare payloads included the Chenguang-1 space-computing satellite, the Gande-1 (01) commercial debris-monitoring satellite, the Xiguang-2 (03) infrared remote-sensing satellite, the Jitianxing A-04 computing satellite, and the Yinglong Fengguang-1 meteorological satellite; SpaceTY's TY-48 was also aboard, per Launch Library. CAS Space said it plans regular, monthly Kinetica-1 launches through the second half of 2026.
why it matters
Routine cadence entry under the site's launch policy: Kinetica-1 is one of several Chinese light-lift solid rockets competing for the smallsat rideshare market alongside Ceres-1 and Gravity-1, and CAS Space's stated monthly cadence target signals China's private launch sector continuing to scale rideshare capacity for domestic EO and tech-demo customers.
signal-to-noise
quick facts
- Companies
- CAS Space
- Category
- launch
- Impact
- noise
- SNR
- 4 / 5
- Event date
- 2026-07-23
- Published
- 2026-07-24 17:37 UTC