Gravity-1 Y3 launches from the East China Sea and puts 9 satellites in orbit
A Chinese commercial rocket flew another sea-launch mission, placing several satellites into their planned orbits in a single launch, including constellation satellites and a technology test satellite.
According to Xinhuanet, on the 16th the Gravity-1 Y3 rocket lifted off from waters in the East China Sea and placed 8 Qianfan constellation satellites and 1 ultra-high-speed wireless communication technology test satellite into their planned orbits; the launch was a complete success.
The report says this brings the total number of Qianfan constellation satellites launched to 256.
Xinhuanet suggested the industry significance of the launch can be read through the logic of industrial upgrading, namely why satellite launches "send several at once".
Our take: the only checkable figure in this report is the Qianfan cumulative total of 256 satellites, which is single-sourced and could not be independently verified. On the industrial logic of multi-satellite launches, the report only poses the question and gives no verifiable quantitative basis, so readers should not infer any change in per-launch cost or efficiency from it.