China's commercial rocket CERES-1 completes maiden flight

JIUQUAN -- 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 pm (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.