China's Gravity-1 sea launch marks new milestone for private space sector

Orienspace's Gravity-1 mission showcases China's growing private launch capability, offshore launch ambitions and expanding private space ecosystem

Chinese commercial rocket maker Orienspace on Wednesday launched its Gravity-1 rocket from the East China Sea, marking the country's first far-sea launch by a privately developed commercial rocket, China Daily reported.

 

Gravity-1 successfully placed nine satellites into orbit. The company said the mission also set a new national record for the combined payload weight delivered into orbit by a Chinese private rocket, though it did not disclose the exact payload, citing commercial confidentiality.

 

Founded in 2020 by former engineers and researchers from China's state-owned space enterprises, Orienspace developed Gravity-1 as a three-stage solid-propellant launch vehicle with four side boosters.

 

 

Weighing 405 tonnes at liftoff and generating 600 tonnes of thrust, the rocket can carry up to 6.5 tonnes to low-Earth orbit or 4.2 tonnes to a 500-km sun-synchronous orbit.

 

Currently the world's most powerful solid-propellant launch vehicle, Gravity-1 has surpassed the European Space Agency's Vega-C in terms of liftoff weight and thrust. The rocket made its maiden flight in January 2024 from a sea-based platform in the Yellow Sea, becoming the fifth privately developed Chinese rocket to reach orbit.

 

Why the launch matters

 

The launch demonstrated China’s capability to conduct long-range commercial launches from offshore platforms.

 

Unlike fixed land-based launch sites, sea launches allow operators to choose more flexible launch trajectories, reduce safety risks by avoiding populated areas and increase launch frequency by deploying mobile launch platforms. The capability is expected to become increasingly important as countries race to deploy large constellations of communication and Earth-observation satellites.

 

The latest mission also marked Gravity-1's transition from demonstration flights to regular commercial operations, highlighting the growing maturity of China's private launch industry.

 

China's private space race gathers pace

 

The launch reflects the rapid rise of China's commercial space sector, which has expanded since Beijing opened parts of the industry to private investment in 2014. Over the past decade, companies such as LandSpace, Galactic Energy, Space Pioneer, i-Space and Orienspace have launched their own rockets to space.

 

These firms are developing reusable rockets, satellite launch services and space infrastructure to meet growing demand from commercial satellite operators, internet constellation projects and government customers.

 

Orienspace is already working on its next-generation Gravity-2 rocket, a partially reusable launch vehicle designed to carry significantly heavier payloads, signalling the company's ambition to compete in the global commercial launch market, China Daily reports.