(Yicai) June 15 -- CAS Space, which is preparing for a listing on the Shanghai bourse's Nasdaq-style Star Market, successfully deployed another eight customer satellites into their planned orbit today using its Kinetica 1 Yaoshi-14 carrier rocket, cementing the Kinetica 1 series’ position as the only commercial private rocket family in China to have placed more than 100 satellites into space.

Blasting off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at noon, this marks the Kinetica 1 rocket series’ third launch this quarter. Earlier launches in April and May deployed a total of 13 satellites, helping Guangzhou-based CAS Space rank first in terms of market share in China’s private satellite launch services sector.

This was also the 14th launch in the Kinetica 1 rocket series. To date, the rocket family has successfully placed 105 satellites into orbit, with a total mass payload exceeding 15 tons. Kinetica 1 stands as the only commercial private rocket in China to have launched more than 100 satellites.

Kinetica 1 is a solid-fuel carrier rocket designed mainly for rapid deployment of low-Earth-orbit remote sensing and navigation enhancement satellite constellations, as well as communication satellite network replenishment, according to CAS Space. All eight satellites in this mission were high-resolution optical remote sensing satellites.

CAS Space has independently developed China’s first data-driven ground launch and test control software as well as the first layered flight control system, said Meng Fanbin, deputy chief designer of Kinetica 1. These systems enable fully autonomous and intelligent control throughout the entire process, from pre-launch testing to satellite separation in orbit.

The company’s self-developed universal software platform equips the rocket with an “intelligent brain,” significantly reducing launch costs and shortening development cycles while improving reliability, Meng said. This design lays a solid foundation for high-frequency, low-cost, large-scale commercial space launches.

CAS Space’s IPO application on the Star Market was accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange in March this year. Just over 98 percent of the firm’s revenue comes from rocket launch services, but the company has not yet turned profitable, according to its prospectus.

CAS Space, which was incubated by the Institute of Mechanics under the Chinese Academy of Sciences, racked up a net loss of CNY749 million (USD103.8 million) in the first nine months of last year on operating revenue of CNY84.2 million (USD 11.6 million). Since 2022 cumulative losses have reached CNY3.8 billion (USD538.3 million).

Yang Yiqiang, founder and actual controller of the company, previously served as the first chief commander of the Long March 11 rocket program at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, where he was responsible for overall development and project management.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor