Guangzhou-built "Pioneer Satellite" launched into orbit

Galactic Energy, a leading private rocket maker, conducted its seventh sea-based launch of its Ceres 1 carrier rocket on October 21.

The rocket lifted off at 11:42 am from a launch service ship in the Yellow Sea off Shandong province and soon placed a large remote-sensing satellite into low-Earth orbit at an altitude of about 541 kilometers.

The satellite was built by Guangdong Tianyuan Technology, a private satellite operator registered in Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong province. It is designed to collect data for natural resources monitoring, agricultural yield forecasting, ocean observation, ecological protection and emergency disaster relief.