LandSpace launched its Zhuque-2E Y4 rocket from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 11:40 UTC on October 14, 2026, deploying 10 satellites into their planned orbits. The rideshare mission carried eight ADA Space computing satellites and two laser data-transmission test satellites, marking the 10th flight of the Zhuque-2 launch vehicle family.
The payload comprised ADA Space’s Xingshidai-39 and Xingshidai-44 through Xingshidai-50 satellites, together with the Guangchuan-03 and Guangchuan-04 spacecraft developed by Lanta Intelligence.
The eight Xingshidai satellites are the first batch of Group 02 under ADA Space’s Star-Compute program and are intended to operate in a dawn-dusk orbit. They will conduct in-orbit tests of high-performance computing payloads, high-speed intersatellite and satellite-to-ground laser communications, and large deployable radiator structures.
ADA Space said the batch will also support verification of a 10-kilowatt-class liquid-cooling loop, an expanded laser communications network and foundation-model training in orbit. These experiments address two central requirements for space-based computing: moving large volumes of data between satellites and rejecting the heat generated by sustained processing. With no atmospheric convection available in orbit, waste heat must ultimately be transferred to radiator surfaces and released through thermal radiation.
The new spacecraft are intended to operate with the 12 satellites launched in May 2025 as the first group of the Star-Compute program. ADA Space has outlined a longer-term architecture comprising 2,400 inference-computing satellites and 400 training satellites across several low Earth orbit regimes, linked through intersatellite and satellite-to-ground laser communications.
Guangchuan-03 and Guangchuan-04 are next-generation laser data-transmission test satellites. Their planned demonstrations include highly integrated onboard processing units, large-aperture high-speed laser communications, integrated laser-routing and communications modules, and a new solar-array power system. The two spacecraft follow Guangchuan-01 and Guangchuan-02, which were launched on the first Zhuque-2E mission in November 2024.
The mixture of satellites also tested LandSpace’s ability to manage a multi-customer rideshare mission. Because the spacecraft had different dimensions, mechanical requirements and separation constraints, the company mounted them on separate faces of a square load-bearing adapter and coordinated their positions, deployment sequence and flight program to prevent interference.
Zhuque-2E is a two-stage expendable rocket using liquid oxygen and methane propellants. LandSpace rates the vehicle to carry up to 6 metric tons to low Earth orbit or 4 metric tons to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. The original Zhuque-2 became the world’s first methane-fueled launch vehicle to reach orbit in July 2023.
The October 14 launch was the Zhuque-2 family’s eighth successful mission in 10 flights and its fourth consecutive success. It followed the September 15 launch of 10 Qianfan broadband satellites by 29 days, giving LandSpace two 10-satellite deployment missions within a month. The Y4 designation identifies the vehicle rather than its chronological position in the launch sequence, as the Y7 vehicle flew before it.
The satellites will next begin commissioning and their respective in-orbit technology demonstrations. LandSpace plans to continue regular commercial operations with Zhuque-2E while advancing engineering verification of the larger reusable Zhuque-3.
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