China's PALLAS-1 Rocket to Focus on Middle-Weight Low Earth Orbit Payloads
China's PALLAS-1 Y1 carrier rocket will concentrate on middle-weight payload deployments for low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations, said a Chinese expert after its successful launch on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwest China.
The mission was the first flight of PALLAS-1, a medium-sized, two-stage liquid carrier rocket independently developed by Galactic Energy, a Chinese private space launch enterprise.
The rocket is 52 meters long and has a core-stage diameter of 3.35 meters, a liftoff mass of 283 tons and a liftoff thrust of 350 tons. Designed to be re-used at least 25 times, it can carry five to seven tons to low Earth orbit.
"We used to see many models in the four-to-five-ton payload class, then some other models' payload capacity jumped straight to around 20 tons. The five-to-seven-ton range, even up to eight tons, remains relatively few. That is exactly the niche PALLAS-1 is built for," said Liu Baiqi, chairman of Galactic Energy.
PALLAS-1 is Galactic Energy's first product in the liquid rocket field, following the company's solid-fuel Ceres (Gushenxing) series.
Its successful debut means the company now runs two parallel product lines side by side, marking a new phase of development as it sets its sights on the large-scale constellation deployment market.
The September 1 launch was the 1st for the Pallas-1 launch vehicle 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.
Video Credit: CCTV
Duration: 1 minute
Release Date: Sept. 3, 2026
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