JIUQUAN, Nov. 7 (Xinhua) -- China's new carrier rocket CERES-1, designed for commercial use, made its maiden flight on Saturday, sending one satellite into planned orbit.
The rocket blasted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China at 3:12 p.m. (Beijing Time).
Developed by the Beijing-based high-tech company Galactic Energy, the CERES-1 is a small-scale solid-propellant carrier rocket capable of sending micro-satellites into low-Earth orbit.
On board the rocket was a satellite belonging to the Tianqi constellation. The satellite, Tianqi-11, will be used for data collection and transmission.
