For the second consecutive day, the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone in Northwest China hosted a launch mission, as the Kinecta-1 Y13 carrier rocket developed by Chinese commercial space company CAS Space blasted off at 12:33 pm on Friday, successfully sending five satellites into their preset orbit, marking a complete success of the mission, the company told the Global Times.

The mission marked the 14th flight of the Kinecta rocket series, which has so far successfully delivered 100 satellites into space, with the total payload mass exceeding 18 tons. The achievement is not only a milestone breakthrough, but also reflects the establishment of a mature, efficient and rigorous project management and full-process quality assurance system, Shi Xiaoning, the chief designer of the Kinecta-1 rocket told the Global Times.

The ground support system developed by CAS Space for the Kinecta rocket series has achieved lightweight, standardized and digitalized operations. The launch infrastructure is capable of supporting a launch frequency of one mission per week, while launch preparation efficiency has been shortened to the hourly level, according to the company.

The latest mission further demonstrated China’s commercial space sector is moving toward high-frequency, low-cost and rapid-response launch capabilities, as it followed the launch of the Zhuque-2E Y5 carrier rocket on Thursday at the same launch base, which was developed by Beijing-based LandSpace.

The Thursday launch carried a 2.8-ton customized experimental payload designed for large-scale constellation networking into a 900-kilometer orbit, further verifying the rocket model’s heavy-payload transport capability, said the LandSpace.