Foreign satellites ride Kinetica 1 on new CAS Space mission

by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 11, 2025

CAS Space has carried out the 11th launch of its Kinetica 1 solid-fuel carrier rocket, orbiting nine satellites from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert of northwestern China. The rocket lifted off at 12:03 pm local time and delivered all payloads into their planned orbits. The manifest included six Chinese multifunctional satellites, along with one satellite each for the United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Nepal.

The UAE payload, named 813, was built by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites in Shanghai, a subsidiary of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, for the National Space Science and Technology Center at United Arab Emirates University. The spacecraft hosts a hyperspectral imager, a panchromatic imager and an atmospheric polarimeter. Its instruments are designed to gather data for detailed monitoring of vegetation, water bodies and land use, as well as mapping, surface feature detection, environmental surveys and climate change research.

Media in the UAE report that engineers from 12 Arab countries, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Jordan and Bahrain, contributed to the 813 project, which has been described as the Arab world's first joint satellite mission.

Egypt's satellite, SPNEX (Space Plasma Nano-satellite Experiment), is a mini satellite jointly developed by the Egyptian Space Agency and Egypt's Academy of Scientific Research and Technology. SPNEX focuses on measuring and characterizing space plasma in the ionosphere to support studies related to climate change.

The Nepalese payload, Slippers2Sat, was built by a team of middle school students in Nepal, with support from the nonprofit Antarikchya Pratisthan Nepal and the US-based Amateur Radio Digital Communications. Slippers2Sat is intended primarily as a platform for technology demonstration.

"After the satellites start formal operations, they will provide technical services and data support for Egypt, Nepal and the UAE in areas such as emergency response, earthquake precursor monitoring and environmental monitoring," said Hu Xiaowei, project manager of the Kinetica 1 series. "They will help these countries improve the operational efficiency of public infrastructure and make better use of space-based information."

Kinetica 1 is about 30 meters long, with a diameter of 2.65 meters and a liftoff mass of 135 metric tons. The launcher can place up to 1.5 tons of payload into a typical sun-synchronous orbit around 500 kilometers above Earth. According to CAS Space, Kinetica 1 missions have now deployed 84 satellites with a combined mass of 11 tons, giving the vehicle the largest business share in China's commercial launch market.

The latest mission was the fourth time Kinetica 1 has flown with foreign customer payloads. During its fifth flight in November 2024, the rocket carried 15 satellites, including IRSS-1, designed and built by the China Academy of Space Technology for Omani startup Oman Lens. That earlier launch was described as the first time a Chinese commercial space company orbited a satellite for a foreign client and the first successful orbital launch of an Omani satellite.

On its eighth mission in August, Kinetica 1 deployed two Mexican mini satellites to orbit. In October, the rocket's ninth mission placed HS-1, Pakistan's first hyperspectral imaging satellite, into orbit.

Shi Xiaoning, chief designer of Kinetica 1, said the company plans to introduce reusability features on the rocket by adding parachutes and grid fins.