China Increased Space Capacity by Launching Four Rockets in 45 Hours

China has attracted attention with its intense space activities recently. The country has undertaken a significant capacity increase in Chinese space operations by launching four separate rockets from three different launch centers over a 45-hour period.

It was announced by official sources that all four tasks carried out in this process were successfully completed. The launches in question include projects carried out jointly by both government institutions and private space companies.

The first mission started with the firing of the Zhuque-2E rocket belonging to the LandSpace company at 09.26 Türkiye time on Tuesday, September 15. The rocket, which took off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, placed 10 satellites for the Qianfan broadband satellite constellation into low Earth orbit.

Zhuque-2E, which uses a combination of liquid methane and liquid oxygen fuel, has technical similarities with SpaceX's Starship rocket. The Qianfan project aims to establish a huge network of approximately 15 thousand active satellites when completed.

Immediately afterwards, on Wednesday, September 16, at 01:00 Turkish time, the Gravity-1 rocket operated by Orienspace went into operation. This rocket, launched from a barge off the coast of Shanghai, added 9 satellites to the Qianfan network.

Gravity-1 holds the title of being the solid-fuel rocket with the highest thrust power in the world. This successful operation shows how strengthened the role of the private sector in the space race has become.

Such operations reveal how quickly China is developing space technologies to achieve both its commercial and strategic goals. The fact that private companies in particular successfully carry out such complex tasks proves that competition in the sector is increasing.

The third mission was carried out by the state company CASC on Thursday, September 17, at 03.32 Turkish time. The Long March 12 rocket, which took off from the Wenchang Space Launch Center on Hainan Island, carried 9 spacecraft into orbit for the SatNet project.

The SatNet broadband satellite constellation is planned to consist of approximately 13 thousand satellites in total. This project is seen as part of China's strategy to strengthen global internet access and satellite communications networks.

The last launch was made from Jiuquan Launch Center at 05.40 Türkiye time on the same day. The Kuaizhou-11 rocket, operated by a subsidiary of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, successfully sent two radar-based Earth observation satellites belonging to the Spacety company into space.

This mission, carried out by the Kuaizhou-11 rocket, shows how practical the technologies used to place observation satellites into orbit have become. All launches carried out during this intense 45-hour period prove China's orbital insertion speed and operational flexibility in space.