Smart Dragon 3

Active

China Rocket Co. Ltd. (CHNR)

Dec. 9, 2022

Description

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.

Commercial
None
CHNR

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

Upcoming Spaceflights

Smart Dragon 3 | Unknown Payload

China Rocket Co. Ltd. | China
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
TBD February, 2026
Status: To Be Determined
Mission:

Possibly an Earth observation satellite for the Pakistan government's SUPARCO, details TBD.

Unknown
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Previous Flights

flew on eight previous launch(es).

Smart Dragon 3 | Geely Constellation Group 06

China Rocket Co. Ltd. | China
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Sept. 24, 2025, 7:56 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

12 LEO communications satellites for Chinese car manufacturer Geely Automotive for testing autonomous driving/inter-vehicle communication services. They also carry payloads for ocean observation.

Low Earth Orbit
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Smart Dragon 3 | Geely Constellation Group 05

China Rocket Co. Ltd. | China
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Sept. 8, 2025, 7:48 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

11 LEO communications satellites for Chinese car manufacturer Geely Automotive for testing autonomous driving/inter-vehicle communication services. They also carry payloads for ocean observation.

Low Earth Orbit
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Smart Dragon 3 | Geely Constellation Group 04

China Rocket Co. Ltd. | China
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Aug. 8, 2025, 4:31 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

11 LEO communications satellites for Chinese car manufacturer Geely Automotive for testing autonomous driving/inter-vehicle communication services. They also carry payloads for ocean observation.

Low Earth Orbit
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Smart Dragon 3 | 10 x CentiSpace-1

China Rocket Co. Ltd. | China
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Jan. 13, 2025, 3 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Chinese commercial small satellites by Beijing-based company Future Navigation for providing GNSS augmentation signals services from LEO. They are part of a planned 160 satellites constellation.

Low Earth Orbit
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Smart Dragon 3 | 8 satellites

China Rocket Co. Ltd. | China
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Sept. 24, 2024, 2:31 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Carried 8 satellites to a 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit: * Tianyi-41 * Luojia 4-01 * Fudan-1 * Tianyan-15 * Jitianxing A-01 * Xingshidai-15/21/22

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Smart Dragon 3 | 9 satellites

China Rocket Co. Ltd. | China
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Feb. 3, 2024, 3:06 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

Carried 9 satellites to Sun-synchronous orbit: * DRO-L * Zhixing-2A (SmartSat-2A) * DongFangHuiYan-GF01 * WeiHai-1-01/02 * XingShiDai-18/19/20 * NEXSAT-1

Sun-Synchronous Orbit
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Smart Dragon 3 | SatNet test satellite

China Rocket Co. Ltd. | China
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Dec. 5, 2023, 7:24 p.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

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

Polar Orbit
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Smart Dragon 3 | Maiden Flight

China Rocket Co. Ltd. | China
Haiyang Oriental Spaceport
Dec. 9, 2022, 6:35 a.m.
Status: Launch Successful
Mission:

First flight of the new solid fuel powered rocket developed by CAST. Payload consists of 14 satellites: * Jilin-1 HR-03D 44-50 * Jilin-1 PT-01A 01 * Tianqi-7 * HEAD-2H * CAS-5A * Golden Bauhinia 1-05 & 06 * Huoju-1

Low Earth Orbit
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