HELSINKI — China launched a remote sensing satellite for Pakistan late Wednesday as space sector collaboration between the countries continues to grow.
A Kuaizhou-1A lifted off from a transport erector launcher at 10:00 p.m. Eastern July 30 (0200 UTC, July 31) from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China. Expace, the launch vehicle operator, announced launch success, revealing the payload to be the Pakistan Remote Sensing Satellite (PRSS‑01).
Launch imagery indicates the vehicle was the upgraded Kuaizhou-1A, featuring modified first and second stages and a redesigned payload fairing, extending its carrying capacity to low Earth orbit to 450 kilograms.
It is the second time the modified Kuaizhou-1A has flown, following its debut mission in December 2024. Expace is a commercial arm of the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), a giant state-owned defense and space contractor.
The PRSS‑01 satellite was developed by Pakistan’s Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) in collaboration with the China Electronics Technology Group Corporation (CETC) and Microsat, or the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites, an institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).
PRSS-01 joins PRSS-EO-1, launched by a Long March 2D rocket in January, PRSS-1 (launched in 2018) and PakTES-1A, in orbit. The satellites enhance Pakistan’s Earth‑observation infrastructure under its Vision 2047 and National Space Policy.
These satellites provide data for the fields of land mapping, agriculture classification and assessment, urban and rural planning, environmental monitoring, natural disaster monitoring and management, surveying, natural resources protection and other uses, according to SUPARCO.
The mission underscores growing collaboration between China and Pakistan in space. Pakistan has joined China’s International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) and will develop a small rover to fly on China’s Chang’e-8 lunar south pole mission, set to fly in 2028 or 2029. China’s human spaceflight agency announced in February that a Pakistani astronaut would be the first foreign astronaut to visit the Tiangong space station at an unspecified time, following a training and selection period.
China appears to be increasingly leveraging Tiangong for diplomacy, by hosting payloads, astronauts, and outreach activities from orbit, last month facilitating an exchange between Hungarian students, scientists and government officials and the Shenzhou-20 astronauts aboard Tiangong.
China has a range of active solid rockets. These are the Long March 11, Jielong-1 and Jielong-3 from CASC, the Hyperbola-1 from Ispace, Galactic Energy’s Ceres-1, Kinetica-1 from CAS Space, and the largest, Gravity-1, from Orienspace. The majority of these are light-lift solid launchers with similar payload capabilities, while some have launched from both land and sea.
The Kuaizhou-11, larger than the KZ-1A, could be used to send the B300-L2 (DEAR-5) prototype cargo spacecraft into orbit from Jiuquan spaceport. China Rocket’s Jielong-3 is expected to fly in the near future, while Galactic Energy could soon attempt a test flight of its Ceres-2, a larger solid propellant rocket, building on its established Ceres-1.
The late Wednesday launch was China’s 41st orbital launch attempt of 2025. It follows two launches for the Guowang megaconstellation project, July 27 and July 30, sandwiching a return to flight for iSpace and its Hyperbola-1 solid rocket July 29. Early on July 31, a Long March 12 rocket was rolled out at the Hainan commercial launch center in preparation for the launcher’s second flight.
CASC did not publicly release its launch plans for the year, but the country appears on course to eclipse its 68 launch attempts in 2024, which set a national record.