China sea launch boosts private rocket activity in 2026by Riko SeiboTokyo, Japan (SPX) Jan 30, 2026Galactic Energy has opened Chinas 2026 commercial launch campaign with a pre dawn sea based mission of its Ceres 1 carrier rocket on January 17, extending the companys record of frequent small satellite launches from both land and ocean platforms. Ceres 1 first reached orbit in November 2020 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, becoming the second privately developed Chinese orbital launcher after i Spaces SQX 1. With this mission, the rocket has flown 23 times, placing 89 commercial satellites into orbit, with 21 of those launches reported as successful. In a separate mission, China conducted a Long March 2C launch on Thursday afternoon, orbiting the AlSat 3A remote sensing satellite for Algeria from the Jiuquan spaceport. The mission marks another step in space cooperation between China and Algeria, following the launch of the Alcomsat 1 communications satellite in December 2017.