A commercial rocket took off in northwest China, successfully sending six satellites into space.
The rocket, codenamed ZQ-2E Y2, was launched at 12:12 p.m. Beijing time from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation demonstration zone located near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The rocket is a modified variant of the ZQ-2 model developed by Beijing-based private rocket manufacturer LandSpace.ZQ is short for Zhuque, meaning "red bird." Zhuque is one of the four spirits in ancient Chinese mythology who symbolizes fire and controls the south direction.The modified ZQ-2 is claimed to have adopted a dual cryogenic liquid propellant system, equipped with a high-thrust engine powered by methane and liquid oxygen, where methane is the main component of natural gas.According to LandSpace, the rocket is capable of sending a payload weighing 4 tons to a sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) as far as 500 km.Saturday's launch was the fifth launch for the ZQ-2 rocket series.Prior to this mission, LandSpace successfully launched a modified ZQ-2 Y1 rocket in November 2024 to deliver two satellites into orbit.The company said the new ZQ-2E Y2 rocket has several improvements over the previous model, including improved engine thrust and the use of composite materials instead of metal in the fairing, helping to improve its efficiency and reliability,
