China Galactic Energy's Ceres-2 Commercial Rocket Launches Four Satellites

China Galactic Energy's Ceres-2 Commercial Rocket Launches Four Satellites

China's privately-developed commercial Ceres-2 Y3 carrier rocket sent four satellites into orbit on Saturday morning. The Galactic Energy rocket blasted off at 7:37am China Standard Time on November 7, 2026, from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, successfully sending the satellites of Guanlan Shiyan, Yunyao-1 28, Zhongbei Daxue-1 and Juntian-1 06A into their planned orbits.

The launch marked the second flight of the Ceres-2 carrier rocket, developed Chinese space firm Galactic Energy (Beijing Galactic Energy Space Technology Co., Ltd.).

CERES-2 is a medium-class solid-fuel carrier rocket designed for flexible, truck-based launches. It has been developed through technological upgrades to CERES-1, and the earlier model has completed 21 launches and delivered 89 satellites into space.

CERES-2 combines solid-fuel propulsion in its first three stages with a liquid-fuel upper stage. The rocket has a liftoff weight of about 100 tons and can carry up to 1.6 tons to a 500-kilometer low-Earth orbit, or 1.3 tons to a Sun-synchronous orbit at the same altitude, according to the company's website.

The North University of China Satellite-1 (Zhongbei Daxue-1) plans to monitor natural mineral resources while providing early alerts for geological disasters with additional functions making it usable as a teaching tool. Development was led by the university with support from launch firm Orienspace3 and Beijing Maiya Technology Co. Ltd. 

Zhongke Xingtu Measurement and Control Technology Co. Ltd. launched its first satellite, Xingyan-01, manufactured by Beijing Juntian Aerospace Technology Co. Ltd. They gave it the additional designation Juntian-1-06A. It is a commercial space situational awareness satellite planned to track, catalog, and monitor the activities of other spacecraft and orbital debris after its systems are verified.

Led by Laoshan Laboratory was the ‘Guanlan Experimental Satellite', tasked with proving out new systems for all-weather, high-precision altimetry readings of global ocean surfaces using dual-frequency Ka and Ku bands and a co-aperture antenna configuration. The antenna was built by the Beijing Institute of Radio Measurement with satellite systems assigned to the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology.

Alongside them was Yunyao-1-28 from Yunyao Aerospace. It is a commercial meteorology satellite joining an existing constellation. 

Today’s mission was the second for the Ceres-2 launch vehicle, the 26th flight of the Ceres family of launch vehicles (Ceres-1 and Ceres-2), and Galactic Energy’s 27th orbital launch attempt. This was also the 79th launch from China in 2026.

Image Credit: Galactic Energy

Article Credit: Jack C.
Date: Nov. 7, 2026

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