Orienspace, a Chinese launch startup, marked a significant milestone with the successful completion of its second launch mission on Friday. The Gravity-1 solid rocket was launched from a barge stationed in the Yellow Sea.
The launch, which occurred at 10:20 p.m. Eastern, Oct. 10 (0220 UTC Oct. 11), was supported by the Haiyang Oriental Spaceport, located off the coast of Haiyang, Shandong Province. The rocket ascended through cloudy skies, releasing exhaust and debris from the specially modified barge. On board were three satellites destined for near-polar orbits: the Jilin-1 Wideband 02B07 Earth observation satellite (for Changguang Satellite Technology (CGST)), along with the Shutian Yuxing-01 and Shutian Yuxing-02 satellites, both products of Geespace, the automotive company Geely's space division.
The Jilin-1 satellite is described as "a high-resolution, ultra-wide optical remote-sensing satellite, capable of providing imagery with 0.5-meter resolution and a 150-km swath width." The satellite has already captured high-resolution images of a high latitude area of Russia. The Shutian Yuxing satellites are built upon Geespace’s GSP50 50-kilogram-class general purpose platform.
This launch represents only the second orbital mission for Orienspace since its founding in 2020, with the first being the debut flight of the Gravity-1 in January 2024. The company states that the rocket has undergone numerous internal upgrades to improve quality stability, production consistency, and reliability. Notably, Orienspace provided an official company livestream of the mission, a practice that is not commonly seen with Chinese launches.
The formidable Gravity-1 rocket is comprised of three stages and four boosters. It is capable of carrying approximately 6,500 kg of payload to low Earth orbit (LEO), or 3,700 kg to a 700-km sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), when utilizing a kerosene-liquid oxygen third stage. Last month, Geespace completed the first phase of a 64-satellite Internet of Things constellation with a launch from the Haiyang Oriental Spaceport using a Jielong-3 rocket.
Orienspace asserts that this second successful launch further validates its reliability and capacity for sea-based, multi-satellite constellation deployments. The company is among a large number of commercial launch startups hoping to win contracts for launching satellites for China’s megaconstellation projects, Guowang and Qianfan. The company raised between $27 million and $124 million in B-round funding in August to further support its ambitions, including the liquid propellant Gravity-2 launcher, which could have its test flight before the end of the year.
The reusable Gravity-2 is a 70 meters tall, two-stage reusable kerosene-liquid oxygen propellant rocket with a core diameter of 4.2 meters and a 5.2-meter-wide payload fairing. The company performed a first stage static fire test in July. According to earlier statements, the Gravity-2 (if powered by nine Yuanli-85 engines as originally planned) can carry 21,500 kg to LEO or 15,000 kg to 500-km SSO. A variant with solid side boosters would be capable of sending 29,000 kg to LEO or around 20,000 kg to SSO.
Friday’s launch was China’s 60th orbital launch attempt of 2025, which includes a single failure. The next activity is expected to be a Long March 8A and Long March 12 launches from the commercial spaceport on Hainan island. China is expected to close out the year with further hardware tests related to its crewed lunar program and debut flights of new and potentially reusable launch vehicles from both state-owned and commercial launch service providers.