China's PALLAS-1 Rocket Completes Successful First Test Flight
China on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, successfully launched of Galactic Energy's PALLAS-1 Y1 carrier rocket into space from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone in northwest China. The rocket blasted off at 10:00am Beijing Time and performed normally during the entire flight as it headed for a sun-synchronous orbit. All test objectives were achieved and the mission was a complete success.
This was the maiden flight of PALLAS-1.
PALLAS-1 Y1 carrier rocket is of two-stage configuration, designed for at least 25 reuse cycles, with a payload capacity of five to seven metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO).
A year on from its first flight hardware static fires, Pallas-1 has opened a path towards future booster recovery and reuse.
The PALLAS-1 uses the self-developed CQ-50 pintle-type reusable liquid oxygen/kerosene engines. They had accumulated hot-fire tests exceeding 23,000 seconds. The rocket's first stage adopts a parallel configuration of seven CQ-50 engines.
Departure from Earth under the power of seven CQ-50 engines went as planned. After using all of the available propellant, the first and second stages were released to go their separate ways. Utilizing a single CQ-50, the second-stage successfully completed the trek into orbit.
As for the first-stage, it tumbled back towards Earth after separation, as no grid fins or other components for booster recovery were installed. Progress on those components is well underway, and they are expected to be included from the third flight onwards.
No customer or internally-sourced spacecraft were housed within Pallas-1’s payload fairing for its debut ‘test flight’. The mission’s primary and only goal was to demonstrate that its systems can enable a successful flight using Galactic Energy-made parts, while also collecting useful data on in-flight performance.
Additional plans for Pallas-1 will see the launch vehicle gain an optional third-stage, based upon the twice-used ‘Eros’, to send customer satellites towards harder-to-reach orbits, such as those up to geostationary space.
Today’s launch was the 1st for the Pallas-1 launch vehicle, the 1st flight of the Pallas series, and Galactic Energy’s 25th orbital launch. This was also the 61st launch from China in 2026.
Galactic Energy successfully conducted its first launch in November 2020 with a Ceres-1 rocket. Galactic Energy became the second private company in China to put a satellite in orbit successfully.
Text Credit: CCTV, Jack C.
Duration: 1 minute, 50 seconds
Release Date: Sept. 1, 2026
