On Monday, the Ceres-1 rocket experienced a failure during its launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, resulting in the loss of three satellites. The launch took place at 12:02 PM Beijing time (04:02 GMT) and proceeded normally until the fourth stage malfunctioned. Galactic Energy, the aerospace company behind Ceres-1, reported that the rocket “functioned normally until the fourth stage failed and the engine shut down prematurely.” Engineers are currently analyzing the cause of this anomaly. An official statement clarified that 510 seconds after the fourth stage engine ignition, its operation was terminated prematurely, causing the payload’s failure to reach the planned orbit. The launch was declared unsuccessful.
Interestingly, this was the 22nd launch of the Ceres-1 rocket and only its second failure. Before this incident, the launch vehicle had completed 20 successful missions, deploying 85 commercial satellites and securing a notable position in China’s rapidly growing private space services sector. Ceres-1 is a four-stage solid-fuel launch vehicle, approximately 20 meters tall and 1.4 meters in diameter, with a launch mass of about 33 metric tons. Its designed payload capacity allows it to deliver up to 350 kg to low Earth orbit, catering for rapid deployment of small satellites, including commercial arrays.
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The failure occurred amidst China’s intensive launch campaign. On the prior Sunday, the Shanghai Academy of Space Technology (SAST) successfully launched a Long March 12 rocket from a commercial spaceport on Hainan Island, placing the 13th batch of satellites for the national “Guowang” mega-constellation into orbit. The Guowang system, managed by operator China SatNet, is set to include almost 13,000 satellites in low Earth orbit, seen as China’s response to the Starlink network. Over 100 elements of the constellation have already been deployed, with plans to activate 400 Guowang satellites by 2027.
Despite the current setback, Galactic Energy is expanding its launch vehicle lineup. The company is preparing for the debut launch of the larger solid-fuel rocket, Ceres-2, scheduled around November 15th, and has completed successful static fire tests of the first stage of its liquid-fueled Pallas-1 rocket. In September, Galactic Energy raised $336 million to fund its Ceres and Pallas programs, marking one of the largest investments in a Chinese private rocket manufacturer.
Considering the successful Long March 12 launch on Sunday and the Ceres-1 failure, the weekend marked the 71st and 72nd orbital launch attempts in China for 2025. Notably, the Ceres-1 incident represents only the second launch failure of the year.
