Chinese company Galactic Energy has successfully undertaken its second sea-based launch mission for the Ceres-1 carrier rocket.

Yesterday, Ceres-1, a rocket manufactured and operated by Chinese company Galactic Energy, lifted off from a mobile sea platform off the coast of China’s eastern province of Shandong, successfully sending four satellites into a low orbit about 850km above the Earth.

According to Galactic Energy, the satellites were built by Guodian Gaoke, a Beijing-based private satellite operator, for its Tianqi Network and will form part of a planned constellation of Iot data connectivity satellites.

This is the second sea-based launch for Ceres-1. The first took place in September 2023, also off the coast of Shandong. To date, Galactic Energy has carried out 12 orbital launches using the Ceres-1 model, placing tens of satellites into space.

According to Galactic Energy, compared with conventional land-based launches, a sea mission has a lower risk of causing issues in densely...