China's Smart Dragon-3 Commercial Rocket Launches 10 CentiSpace Satellites

China's Smart Dragon-3 Commercial Rocket Launches 10 CentiSpace Satellites

A Smart Dragon-3 (Jielong-3) rocket lifted off on Monday, January 13, 2025, in east China's Shandong Province, successfully sending the navigation satellite group CentiSpace 01 into its planned orbit. The rocket blasted off at 11 a.m. BT (Beijing Time) from the sea near the city of Haiyang. The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center conducted the offshore launch mission. This was China's second rocket launch of 2025 and the fifth Smart Dragon-3 solid propellant rocket launch. Smart Dragon-3 has a length of approximately 31 meters, a weight of 140 tons at liftoff. Its payload capacity of 1,560 kg to a 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit was increased to 1,600 kg for this flight.

The flight carried 10 Microcentispace-01 (Weili Kongjian group 01) navigation enhancement satellites for commercial company Future Navigation, full name Beijing Future Navigation Technology Co., Ltd. The low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites are designed to support global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals from systems, including China's Beidou and the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS), to provide higher precise navigation services. 

The Centispace system is designed to feature 190 satellites in low-Earth orbit (LEO) at a range of altitudes and inclinations, along with a ground segment consisting of monitoring stations. Stated applications include autonomous driving, precision agriculture, geographic information systems (GIS) and assisting in emergency response and disaster management. 

The Jielong-3 rocket was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a subsidiary of CASC, the country’s state-owned main space contractor. The four-stage rocket is operated by China Rocket, a commercial spinoff from CASC. 

Video Credit: CNSA-W

Caption Credit: CGTN/SpaceNews
Duration: 26 seconds
Release Date: Jan. 13, 2025

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