Galactic Energy's Pallas-1 succeeds on maiden flight, China's first private liquid rocket with seven clustered engines
Galactic Energy's Pallas-1 lifted off at 10:34:35 Beijing time on 1 September from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone in Jiuquan and reached its planned orbit. The 52-metre, 3.35-metre-diameter rocket weighs about 283 tonnes at liftoff with 350 tonnes of thrust; its first stage clusters seven in-house Cangqiong-50 kerosene-LOX engines, a first for a Chinese private rocket.
According to Xinhua, Galactic Energy's Pallas-1 lifted off at 10:34:35 on 1 September from the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and entered its planned orbit, making the maiden flight a success.
Published specifications: a two-stage design about 52 metres long with a 3.35-metre core diameter, a liftoff mass of about 283 tonnes and liftoff thrust of 350 tonnes. The first stage clusters seven in-house Cangqiong-50 kerosene-LOX engines, the first time a Chinese private rocket has used a seven-engine cluster. Nominal LEO capacity is 5 to 7 tonnes, and the first stage is designed to be reused at least 25 times.
⚠️ Sources disagree on whether this flight carried a payload. Reports by Xinhua and the Beijing News only say the rocket "entered its planned orbit" and name no payload; the English-language newsletter China in Space states plainly that this was a payload-free demonstration flight. That claim is single-sourced; we present both and do not choose for the reader.
⚠️ The company's cumulative launch count also has two versions. The Beijing News says Galactic Energy had previously completed 22 orbital launches placing 89 satellites; China in Space calls this the company's 25th orbital launch and China's 61st launch of 2026. The "61st Chinese launch of the year" matches third-party launch trackers, but we could not resolve the gap between 22 and 25, so both figures are given here.
The same newsletter says grid fins and landing legs for recovery will be fitted from the third flight onward. This is single-sourced and describes a future plan, so we do not treat it as confirmed fact.
Our take: a seven-engine cluster is not a record in itself; what stands out is that it flew on a maiden flight. The hard part of clustering many engines is thrust synchronisation and fault isolation during ascent. Taking that on in a first flight shows the company was willing to use its debut to validate a capability its reusable configuration will need, rather than buying an easy success with a simpler design. The price was a higher risk of first-flight failure, and this time it paid off. The real watershed is still first-stage recovery, which by the company's own account waits until the third flight.