A Long March-2C carrier rocket, with the Yuanzheng-1S (Expedition-1S) upper stage attached to the rocket, carrying a test satellite for satellite internet technology, blasts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China on Sept 16, 2025. [Photo/Xinhua]

China launched several experimental satellites into space on Tuesday morning, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's leading space contractor.

The satellites, part of the Space-based Internet Technology Demonstrator series, were carried into their preset orbit by a Long March 2C carrier rocket that blasted off at 9:06 am from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwestern China's Gobi Desert.

The mission marked the seventh orbital deployment of satellites in the Space-based Internet Technology Demonstrator series. The first launch of such satellites took place in July 2023.

A notable feature of the mission is that one of the satellites is equipped with a set of full-flexible solar panels that can be rolled up.

Developed by GalaxySpace, a Beijing-headquartered private satellite company, the satellite is the world's first to have such an apparatus. Designers said that when fully folded, the solar panels have a combined area as large as a standard meeting room, and when rolled up, their diameter is as small as a coffee cup.

The new design not only greatly reduces the weight and space needed for solar panels but also facilitates multi-satellite launches, according to the developers.

A product of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing, the Long March 2C rocket is 43 meters long and 3.35 meters wide and has a liftoff weight of 242.5 metric tons. The rocket is mainly used to deploy satellites to low-Earth and sun-synchronous orbits.

The launch marked the 595th mission of the Long March family and China's 56th rocket launch in 2025.