China CAS Space's New Commercial Kinetica-2 Rocket Launch of Three Satellites
🚀Announcing the success of a China CAS Space Kinetica-2 rocket on its first flight. A 53-meter-tall Kinetica-2 Y1 rocket launched on March 30, 2026, from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone in Northwest China. It has delivered three satellites into space—the New March 01 Technology Demonstration Satellite, the New March 02 Satellite, and TS 01 Educational Satellite into their designated orbits.
Developed by Chinese commercial space firm CAS Space, Kinetica-2 is China's first to adopt a Common Booster Core (CBC) configuration. The Kinetica-2 is a medium-lift, liquid-fuel rocket and the second launch vehicle developed by CAS Space, following the Kinetica-1. It is the company's first liquid-propellant rocket, and is tasked with supporting China's large-scale satellite deployment and low-cost cargo transportation for the Chinese space station.
The rocket consists of a multi-stage core booster that has a diameter of 3.35 meters, and two side boosters that also are 3.35 m wide. Its liftoff weight is 625 metric tons with a maximum thrust of 753 tons. The rocket is able to transport spacecraft with a combined weight of 8 tons to a typical sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers or 12 tons to a low-Earth orbit 200 km.
The New March 02 satellite, also known as the Qingzhou prototype test spacecraft, that launched today, adopts a single-module integrated configuration, allowing it to flexibly adapt to a variety of launch vehicles via its wide launch compatibility. It weighs only 4.2 metric tons.
CAS Space is a commercial spaceflight company established by the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Date: March 30, 2026
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