China Launches New Commercial Rocket Kuaizhou 1 A

China s carrier rocket Kuaizhou1A (KZ1A) sent three satellites into orbit in its first commercial liftoff on Monday. The rocket, carrying one Satellite JL1 and two CubeSats XYS1 and Caton1, blasted off from northwest China s Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center Monday afternoon Beijing Time, according to a statement from the center. The KZ1A was developed from the Kuaizhou1 rocket. Today s launch was its maiden voyage. It is a lowcost carrier rocket with short prelaunch preparation and is capable of delivering its 300kilogram payload to the nearEarth orbit, said Zhang Di, vicepresident of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) Fourth Academy. The KZ1A sent into orbit three satellites in one liftoff. The JL103 is a smart video satellite. And the other two, XYS1 and Caton1, are both CubeSats weighing between two and three kilograms, Zhang added. The JL1 is capable of providing highdefinition video images which is