July22, 2026

The world's largest solid-propellant launch vehicle, Gravity-1, lifted off from the East China Sea on Wednesday, sending nine satellites and one test payload into orbit. The mission, the rocket's third flight, marked the first time China conducted a sea-based launch of a commercial rocket in the Yangtze River Delta region and demonstrated open-sea mobile launch capability.

Unlike its previous two launches just kilometers off the coast, this time the launch vessel sailed to a zone about 170 kilometers east of Shanghai.

"Open-sea launch means we face completely different conditions," said Xu Guoguang, chief designer of Gravity-1. "The sea is rough even without wind. We had to plan support for the entire journey in advance."

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https://news.cgtn.com/news/2026-07-22/Gravity-1-Y4-Why-launch-the-world-s-largest-solid-fuel-rocket-at-sea--1OZkwmXuobS/p.html