Chinese commercial rocket launches 5 satellites into space

By Riyaz ul Khaliq

ISTANBUL (AA) – A commercial rocket from China on Wednesday successfully launched five satellites into space, which will be used for remote sensing.

The rocket, CERES-1, is developed by a Chinese private firm Galactic Energy.

The rocket, carrying five Jilin-1 Gaofen-03D satellites, blasted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia, northwest China, the daily Global Times reported.

The satellites will be used for commercial remote sensing services.

The latest satellite launch comes just a day after China launched a new Yaogan-34 series remote sensing satellite from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center into space.

Indigenously-built Long March-4C rocket carried the satellite, which will be used for resources survey, urban planning, crop yield estimation, and disaster prevention and mitigation, successfully entered its orbit.

So far, the Long March carrier rocket series has flown 450 times.​​​​​​​