Galactic Energy Launches Pallas-1 Medium Liquid Rocket on Maiden Flight

Chinese commercial space enterprise Galactic Energy successfully conducted the maiden flight of its Pallas-1 medium-lift liquid-propellant carrier rocket from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone. The 52-meter-long, two-stage vehicle delivered its payload into the intended orbit, validating the flight performance of seven self-developed Cangqiong-50 liquid oxygen and kerosene engines clustered on the first stage. With a low Earth orbit payload capability of five to seven tonnes, the rocket represents a key step for private Chinese launch providers seeking to offer reusable, high-capacity orbital transportation services.

The successful maiden launch marks a significant operational milestone for China's private space industry in scaling up from small solid-fuel boosters to medium-lift liquid-fuel rockets. Clustered multi-engine propulsion and deep-throttling capabilities are fundamental prerequisites for vertical landing and booster reusability, which are necessary to lower launch costs for commercial satellite mega-constellations.

Chinese commercial aerospace firm Galactic Energy successfully completed the maiden launch of its Pallas-1 (Zhishenxing-1) medium-lift liquid-propellant carrier rocket from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone, according to reports published by Xinhua News Agency and People's Daily. The launch vehicle lifted off at 10:00 a.m., executing its planned flight sequence and delivering its onboard payload into the predetermined orbit. Chinese state media reported that the vehicle operated normally throughout the entire flight profile, fulfilling all experimental objectives. Pallas-1 is an independently developed, two-stage medium liquid-propellant carrier rocket. It stands 52 meters tall with a core diameter of 3.35 meters, a liftoff mass of approximately 283 tonnes, and a liftoff thrust of 350 tonnes. The vehicle provides a low Earth orbit payload capacity ranging between five and seven tonnes, designed to offer high-efficiency, cost-effective dedicated launch services for commercial satellite operators. The primary propulsion system of Pallas-1 relies on the proprietary Cangqiong-50 liquid oxygen and kerosene engine developed by Galactic Energy. The first stage utilizes a parallel arrangement of seven engines. According to the developer, this clustered configuration provides built-in fault redundancy while meeting the dynamic control requirements for booster recovery and reuse. Ground test data indicates the engines support deep continuous thrust modulation across an operational range of 32% to 105%. In addition to the multi-engine cluster, the vehicle incorporates integrated structural and propulsion design, a bi-propellant auxiliary power system, and multi-dimensional aerodynamic load reduction technologies. The rocket can also be configured with an optional Eros-2 (Aishenxing-2) upper stage to expand mission flexibility across diverse and complex orbital profiles.