China on Friday launched a Kinetica-1 Y15 carrier rocket and sent five satellites into space. The mission marked the 15th flight of the Kinetica-1 carrier rocket. Photo: Courtesy of CAS Space

China on Friday launched a Kinetica-1 Y15 carrier rocket and sent five satellites into space. The mission marked the 15th flight of the Kinetica-1 carrier rocket.

The rocket blasted off at 7:33 am Beijing time from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone and successfully delivered the satellites into their planned orbits.

Developed by CAS Space, the Kinetica-1 is a solid-fuel carrier rocket featuring rapid-response capabilities.

In a statement sent to the Global Times on Friday, the company said that the launch marked the start of regular monthly launches in the second half of the year, establishing a reliable and efficient capability for high-frequency launches.

The carrier rocket adopts a universal platform-based design, enabling diversified adaptation between the rocket body and satellite missions, according to the company.

To date, the Kinetica-1 launch vehicle has served over 30 domestic and international clients, including six international clients, and successfully launched over 10 categories of satellite payloads, CAS Space told the Global Times.

These include payloads for low-cost commercial optical remote sensing, high-resolution optical remote sensing, X-SAR remote sensing, quantum communication, in-space manufacturing, space environment detection, meteorological observation, space-based computing, space situational awareness, and geomagnetic field detection.

Yang Kewei, an executive deputy director of the Commercial Space Research Center, China Center for Information Industry Development, told the Global Times on Friday that this year could bear witness to a series of major milestones in the development of China's commercial space industry, including the start of commercial operations for low-Earth-orbit constellations.