(Yicai) Jan. 12 -- China's Gravity-1 commercial carrier rocket completed its maiden mission yesterday after sending three satellites to Earth's orbit, setting a world record for the largest mass and takeoff thrust for a solid-propellant launch vehicle.

Gravity-1 carries seven big-thrust solid-propellant engines from China Aerospace Science and Technology's fourth academy, its developer OrienSpace Technology told Yicai. The rocket is 195 tons heavier in takeoff weight and 141 tons bigger in takeoff thrust than the previous record holder Vega-C, it added.

Gravity-1 has a takeoff weight of about 400 tonnes and a takeoff thrust of 600 tonnes and can lift around 6.5 tonnes of payload to the low Earth orbit and 4.2 tonnes to the sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of 500 kilometers, Xinhua reported. It can send 30 small 100-kilogram satellites in one single launch.

After an investment downturn in the past two years, China's commercial aerospace industry has begun to pick up since the end of last year, thanks to greater policy support from the government.

Some policy-sensitive venture capital funds have shifted their focus back to the aerospace industry, Yao Song, co-chief executive of OrienSpace, told Yicai. The commercial carrier rocket market is growing fast, there is no direct competition between manufacturers, and there will be no shortage of satellite launching orders at least before 2030, Yao added.

The three Yunyao-1 satellites carried by Gravity-1 are developed by Changchun-based Chang Guang Satellite Technology, China's first remote-sensing commercial satellite manufacturer. They are mainly used to provide meteorological data services for commercial use and have broad application prospects in meteorological space observation.

Gravity-1 also became China's first bundled launch vehicle to successfully take off from the sea, Yicai learned. A bundled carrier rocket is bundling multiple rockets side by side to produce greater thrust.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Martin Kadiev