At 19:00 on March 30, 2026, the Lijian-2 Yaoyi carrier rocket developed by China Aerospace was successfully launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, successfully sending the New Journey 01 satellite, the New Journey 02 satellite (Qingzhou preliminary prototype test spacecraft), and the Tianshi Satellite 01 satellite into the predetermined orbit. Lijian 2 adopts CBC configuration, with a general core diameter of 3.35 meters, a fairing diameter of 4.2 meters, a total length of 53 meters, a take-off weight of 625 tons, a take-off thrust of 753 tons, a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit carrying capacity of 8 tons, and a 200-kilometer low-Earth orbit carrying capacity of 12 tons.
In addition to Lijian-2, the liquid launch vehicles currently successfully put into orbit by my country’s commercial rocket companies include Tianlong-2, Zhuque-2, Zhuque-2E, and Zhuque-3.
Tianlong 2
At 16:48 on April 2, 2023, the Tianlong-2 Yao-1 carrier rocket developed by Tianbing Technology was successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Tianlong 2 is a three-stage configuration, using liquid oxygen and coal-based aerospace kerosene as propellants. It has a diameter of 3.35 meters, a length of 32.8 meters, a take-off mass of 153 tons, and a take-off thrust of 193 tons. The first sub-stage is equipped with three customized YF-102 liquid oxygen and kerosene engines, with a single thrust of about 630.89 kN; the second sub-stage is installed with one Tianhuo-11 high-altitude reusable afterburning cycle liquid oxygen and kerosene engine, with a vacuum thrust of 300 kN, vacuum specific impulse of 345 s, and a thrust-to-mass ratio of 130; the third sub-stage is equipped with a Tianhuo-31 attitude orbit control system, which uses normal temperature liquid propellant NTO/MMH, including a 3 kN and eight 150 N thrust engines, the vacuum specific impulse is 306 s, and the total impulse is 2.16 MN·s. The 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit has a carrying capacity of 1.5 tons and a LEO carrying capacity of 2 tons. So far, Tianlong 2 has only launched once, and there has been no launch record since its first flight.
Zhuque 2
At 9:00 on July 12, 2023, the Zhuque-2 Yao-2 carrier rocket developed by Blue Arrow Aerospace was successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The Zhuque-2 Yao-2 launch vehicle is the world’s first liquid oxygen methane rocket to successfully enter orbit. It has a two-stage configuration, a rocket body diameter of 3.35 meters, a total rocket height of 49.5 meters, a take-off weight of 219 tons, and a take-off thrust of 268 tons. The first sub-stage uses four 80-ton Tianque-12 liquid oxygen methane engines in parallel, the second sub-stage uses one 80-ton Tianque-12 liquid oxygen methane engine as the main engine, and one Tianque-11 as the traveling engine. The 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit has a carrying capacity of 1.5 tons. So far, Suzaku-2 has been launched a total of 3 times, with 2 successes and 1 failure. The launch success rate is 66.67%.
Suzaku No. 2E
At 10:00 on November 27, 2024, the Zhuque-2 improved Yaoyi launch vehicle (ZQ-2E Y1) developed by Blue Arrow Aerospace was successfully launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, successfully sending the optical transmission 01 and 02 test satellites into the predetermined orbit. The Zhuque-2 improved Yaoyi launch vehicle has a two-stage configuration and uses liquid oxygen methane propellant. The rocket body has a diameter of 3.35 meters, a total rocket height of 47.3 meters, a take-off mass of 219 tons, and a take-off thrust of 282 tons. The first sub-stage uses four Tianque-12 liquid oxygen methane engines in parallel, and the second sub-stage uses a single Tianque-15A liquid oxygen methane engine with a vacuum thrust of 85 tons. It is also equipped with a Yunque (YQ-10) auxiliary power system to achieve precise attitude adjustment, terminal velocity correction, propellant sinking, orbit change, deorbit and other functions of the final stage of the rocket. The 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit has a carrying capacity of 4 tons. So far, the Zhuque-2 improved launch vehicle has been launched a total of 3 times, with 2 successes and 1 failure, with a launch success rate of 66.67%.
Suzaku No.3
On December 3, 2025, the Zhuque-3 Yaoyi carrier rocket developed by Blue Arrow Aerospace was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It completed the flight mission according to procedures, and the second stage successfully entered the predetermined orbit. The Zhuque-3 Yaoyi launch vehicle adopts a single-core two-stage series configuration. The first and second stages have a diameter of 4.5 meters, a fairing diameter of 5.2 meters, a total arrow length of 66.1 meters, a take-off mass of about 560 tons, and a take-off thrust of 7542kN. The first sub-stage uses nine Tianque-12A liquid oxygen methane engines in parallel, and the second sub-stage uses one Tianque-15A vacuum liquid oxygen methane engine. The low-Earth orbit carrying capacity is not less than 18 tons in the recovery state of the navigation area.
