SatNet test satellite

Overview

Destination: Polar Orbit
Mission: Communications

Polar Orbit South China Sea (launch location 3) Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

Officially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellite". Probable 1 (?) test satellite for the Chinese state-owned LEO communication satellite constellation SatNet.

Updates

Cosmic_Penguin • April 4, 2026, 12:12 a.m.

Added launch per NOTAMs; Launch vehicle and payload identities highly uncertain.


Cosmic_Penguin • April 7, 2026, 11:16 a.m.

Updated launch window per new NOTAMs.


Cosmic_Penguin • April 11, 2026, 1:30 p.m.

Launch success.


Smart Dragon 3

Family:
Configuration:

Smart Dragon-3 is a solid fuel orbital rocket designed by a subsidiary of the state-owned CASC group built for the commercial market.

Specifications
  • Length
    32.0 m
  • Diameter
    2.64 m
  • Fairing Diameter
    3.35 m
  • Launch Mass
    140.0 T
  • Thrust
    ―
Family
  • Name
    Smart Dragon 3
  • Family
    ―
  • Variant
    ―
  • Alias
    ―
  • Full Name
    Smart Dragon 3
Payload Capacity
  • Launch Cost
    ―
  • Low Earth Orbit
    ―
  • Geostationary Transfer Orbit
    ―
  • Direct Geostationary
    ―
  • Sun-Synchronous Capacity
    1500.0 kg

China Rocket Co. Ltd.

China Rocket Co. Ltd.

(CHNR)

Successes: 13 Failures: 0 Pending: 0

Agency Type:

China Rocket Co. Ltd. is a spinoff of China’s state-owned launch vehicle manufacturer using a “commercial business model”.

NASASpaceflight

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SpaceNews

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Haiyang Oriental Spaceport

South China Sea (launch location 3)


Starship
Go
2 days, 7 hours ago
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Falcon 9
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4 days, 6 hours ago
USSF-385
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Electron
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Long March 6A
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6 days, 11 hours ago
Yaogan 40 Group 04
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3 Chinese reconnaissance satellites of unknown purposes, officially reported as for "Electromagnetic environment probing".


Long March 8A
Success
1 week ago
SatNet LEO Group 26
Commercial LC-1 - Wenchang Space Launch Site, People's Republic of China

A batch of 9 Low Earth Orbit communication satellites for the Chinese state owned SatNet constellation operated by the China Satellite Network Group.…


Kinetica 1
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1 week, 3 days ago
9 satellites
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Falcon 9
Success
1 week, 3 days ago
Starlink Group 15-27
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Long March 2D
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1 week, 4 days ago
PIESAT-2 13-16
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4 X-band synthetic-aperture radar Earth observation satellites for the Chinese Earth observation satellite company PIESAT.


Electron
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1 week, 4 days ago
Owl By The Dozen (StriX Launch 12)
Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1B - Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand

Synthetic aperture radar satellite for Japanese Earth imaging company Synspective.


Soyuz 2.1b/Fregat-M
Success
1 week, 6 days ago
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