Spaceflight

A Chinese commercial launch firm launched its first upgraded Kuaizhou-1A rocket late Tuesday, adding to the country’s growing light-lift launch options.

The enhanced Kuaizhou-1A rocket lifted off at 11:46 p.m. Eastern, Dec. 3 (0546 UTC, Dec. 4) from Xichang Satellite Launch Center, southwest China. The solid rocket climbed rapidly into blue skies above the spaceport. Commercial space launch firm Expace announced launch success once it inserted its single satellite payload into its preset orbit.

The payload was announced to be Haishao-1, also referred to as CAS Satellite-8. It is described as a synthetic aperture radar (SAR) remote sensing satellite. Haishao-1 can perform on-board imaging and extract marine dynamic information, offering broad application prospects.

The upgraded Kuaizhou-1A appears to have extended first and second stages, and a payload fairing extended from 1.4 to 1.8 meters. Its payload capacity to low Earth orbit (LEO) is increased from 300 kilograms to 450 kg. Its sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) capacity to 700 km altitude is increased from 200 kg to over 300 kg.

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