{"id":91897,"date":"2026-11-09T10:24:51","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T02:24:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/?p=91897"},"modified":"2026-11-09T10:26:32","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T02:26:32","slug":"ceres-2-returns-to-flight-with-four-satellite-launch-video","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/ceres-2-returns-to-flight-with-four-satellite-launch-video\/","title":{"rendered":"Ceres-2 Returns to Flight With Four-Satellite Launch (Video)"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Ceres-2 Y3 launch vehicle lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:37 a.m. Beijing Time on November 7, 2026, placing the Guanlan experimental satellite, Yunyao-1 28, North University of China-1 and Juntian-1 06A into a 535-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. The mission was the second flight and first orbital success for Ceres-2, returning the launch vehicle to flight more than nine months after its unsuccessful debut.<\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 100%; max-width: 989px; margin: 0 auto; aspect-ratio: 16 \/ 9;\"><iframe style=\"display: block; width: 100%; height: 100%; border: 0;\" title=\"YouTube video player\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/jMUcmBqZlAM\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><br \/>\n<\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>Despite its Y3 designation, this was only the second Ceres-2 launch. The Y2 and Y3 missions were prepared in parallel, with their flight order determined by payload readiness, launch-site conditions and available windows rather than vehicle numbering. Ceres-2 Y2 has not yet flown.<\/p>\n<h2>Ceres-2 Completes Return-to-Flight Mission<\/h2>\n<p>Ceres-2 is a scaled-up successor to the Ceres-1 small launch vehicle. It uses three solid-propellant stages followed by a liquid upper stage, has a liftoff mass of approximately 100 metric tons and is designed to carry 1.6 metric tons to a 500-kilometer low Earth orbit or 1.3 metric tons to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. The vehicle is compatible with both land- and sea-based launch operations.<\/p>\n<p>The liquid upper stage performs final orbit insertion and supports the precise deployment of multiple spacecraft. Its successful operation was particularly important for the November 7 mission, which carried four satellites serving different operational and research objectives.<\/p>\n<p>Ceres-2 made its first flight from Jiuquan on January 17, 2026, but suffered an anomaly during ascent and failed to reach orbit. A technical review completed in June traced the failure to insufficient design margin in the rear support structure of the first-stage solid motor\u2019s segmented throat liner.<\/p>\n<p>During the first flight, displacement of the rear throat-liner section created a path for hot gas between liner segments. The resulting erosion caused the liner structure to fail and damaged the motor nozzle. The failure mechanism was subsequently reproduced through ground testing and simulation, while corrective measures were verified in a static firing.<\/p>\n<p>Additional motor reliability tests were conducted before the return-to-flight mission. The successful Y3 launch provided the first in-flight verification of those changes, while the deployment of all four satellites demonstrated the performance of the upper stage and multi-payload release sequence.<\/p>\n<p>With a sun-synchronous orbit capacity of 1.3 metric tons, Ceres-2 substantially increases the payload capability available within the Ceres launch vehicle family. The additional capacity is intended to support the deployment of small and medium satellite constellations, as well as replenishment missions for larger orbital networks.<\/p>\n<h2>Four Satellites Cover Ocean, Weather and Orbital Monitoring<\/h2>\n<p>The Guanlan experimental satellite is an ocean remote-sensing spacecraft led by Laoshan Laboratory and jointly developed with more than 10 organizations. The Shanghai Institute of Satellite Engineering served as the spacecraft prime contractor, while the Beijing Institute of Radio Measurement supplied its principal instrument.<\/p>\n<p>Guanlan carries a Ka- and Ku-band dual-frequency synthetic-aperture radar altimeter using a shared-aperture antenna. It is designed to conduct routine, all-weather observations of global sea-surface height while also collecting measurements related to sea-surface wind and significant wave height. Its data will support research into small-scale ocean dynamics and provide technical experience for subsequent ocean-altimetry satellites.<\/p>\n<p>Yunyao-1 28, also known as Jinshan Shijie, is a commercial meteorological satellite designed and integrated by Tianjin Yunyao Aerospace Technology. Its principal instrument combines Global Navigation Satellite System radio occultation and reflectometry.<\/p>\n<p>The payload can derive atmospheric temperature, humidity and pressure profiles, ionospheric electron density, sea-surface wind speed, significant wave height, sea-ice concentration and soil moisture. The spacecraft also carries a robotic arm, cameras and a display for in-orbit demonstrations of intelligent spacecraft operations.<\/p>\n<p>North University of China-1 is the first technology-demonstration satellite for the university\u2019s planned Taihang Constellation. It uses a software-defined architecture that supports in-orbit reconfiguration, a dual optical system combining still imagery with video, and onboard computing for image processing and real-time data selection.<\/p>\n<p>The satellite will demonstrate mineral-resource monitoring and geological-hazard warning while supporting potential applications in energy, environmental management, agriculture and emergency response. It will also serve as a teaching and research platform covering satellite design, manufacturing and telemetry, tracking and command operations.<\/p>\n<p>Juntian-1 06A, also designated Xingyan-01, is a space situational awareness technology-demonstration satellite. It carries a wide-field optical surveillance camera and onboard computing hardware for detecting and tracking faint objects in low Earth orbit.<\/p>\n<p>The mission will test coordination among the satellite platform, surveillance payload and ground system, along with onboard artificial intelligence processing and space-to-ground communications. Observation data will support orbit determination, object cataloging and collision-risk assessment. A companion Juntian-1 06B spacecraft has completed assembly and is undergoing pre-delivery testing ahead of planned cooperative operations with 06A.<\/p>\n<p>The successful November 7 flight clears an important technical milestone for Ceres-2, but further missions will be needed to establish launch cadence and demonstrate repeatable reliability. No launch date has been announced for the pending Y2 mission.<\/p>\n<p>The mission also reflects the expanding capabilities available across the commercial space supply chain, from satellite platforms and payloads to AIT and launch integration. Organizations seeking cost-competitive satellite imagery, payloads, AIT equipment or complete spacecraft can <a href=\"https:\/\/starpath.global\/contact\">discuss your mission requirements with STARPATH GLOBAL<\/a>. For Earth observation projects, our <a href=\"https:\/\/starpath.global\/products\/imagery\/catalog\">satellite imagery catalog<\/a> helps customers select suitable sensors and resolutions based on their operational needs and budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Ceres-2 Y3 launch vehicle lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:37 a.m. Beijing Time on November 7, 2026, placing the Guanlan experimental satellite, Yunyao-1 28, North University of China-1 and Juntian-1 06A into a 535-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit. The mission was the second flight and first orbital success for Ceres-2, returning the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":91899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[7932,135,291,159,2009,310,10881,3348],"class_list":["post-91897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-ceres-2","tag-china","tag-commercial-space","tag-earth-observation","tag-galactic-energy","tag-launch-vehicles","tag-meteorological-satellites","tag-space-situational-awareness"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91897"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91897"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91897\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":91906,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/91897\/revisions\/91906"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/91899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91897"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=91897"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=91897"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}