China's Orienspace Developing Larger Liquid-Fueled Gravity-2 Commercial Rocket
The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center launched the commercial rocket at 10:54 (Beijing Time), placing nine satellites into their designated orbits. The mission was the third flight of the Gravity-1 rocket.
This flight marks Gravity-1's first open-sea launch and China's first commercial sea-based launch in the East China Sea off the Yangtze River Delta.
After three flights, the rocket's overall reliability has been validated, and it is now transitioning from the trial phase into scaled commercial operations.
"With this launch accomplished, the next rocket will be used for the deployment of China's low‑orbit Internet satellite constellation. The fifth and sixth launches are scheduled for the third quarter of this year," said Xu Guoguang, chief designer and commander of the Gravity-1 rocket.
Gravity-1, a solid‑fuel rocket, has a maximum payload capacity of 6.5 tons. Given the capacity limitations of solid‑fuel designs, the team is pushing ahead with Gravity-2—a much larger, recoverable liquid‑fuel rocket with a low‑Earth orbit payload of 21.5 tons and a 500‑km sun‑synchronous orbit payload of 15 tons. The new rocket is scheduled to make its first flight in the fourth quarter of this year.
"The exploration of solid-fuel rocket launches at sea is also paving the way for future liquid-fuel rocket launches from the ocean. For liquid rockets, we are also considering alternative approaches, such as launching from a drilling platform. These methods are all on the table and will require further exploration," said Xu.
Duration: 1 minute
Date: July 23, 2026
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