China launches PALLAS-1 carrier rocket

China's PALLAS-1 Y1 carrier rocket completed a successful maiden flight Sept. 1 from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone, reaching its designated orbit and meeting all test objectives. The medium-sized, two-stage liquid rocket, developed by Galactic Energy, is 52 meters long, has a 3.35-meter core diameter, a liftoff mass of about 283 tonnes and 350 tonnes of thrust, and can carry 5 to 7 tonnes to low Earth orbit. Its main propulsion uses CQ-50 LOX-kerosene engines with seven first-stage engines that throttle from 32 to 105 percent and provide redundancy, and the vehicle is designed for recovery and reuse and can accept an EROS-2 upper stage, expanding commercial launch options.

PALLAS-1 completed a successful maiden flight delivering payload to orbit.