The state media reported that a Lijian-1 Y9 carrier rocket took off at the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone, near the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, in northwest China. The rocket was loaded with two technical experiment satellites and both of them were successfully put into the required orbit.
That same day the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center announced that a Long March-11 rocket was launched on a floating platform in the sea off Haiyang in Shandong Province. The mission launched three Shiyan-32 test satellites in pre-determined orbits, aimed to perform activities of the experiment of the advanced space-based technologies.
Long March-11 was the 606th flight on the Long March carrier rocket series in the China. The two launches are the first move to show that China is paying more attention to the integration of commercial and scientific satellite missions, which serves as an extension of its larger goal to become a competitor to major world space powers both on land and by sea.
