World’s Largest Solid Fuel Rocket, Gravity-1, Launched From Waters

While launching from sea can present challenges, the benefits include a potential boost in the payload, a reduction in range conflicts, and less risk of bits of rocket raining down on populated areas.

A private aerospace enterprise in China launched the world’s most powerful solid-fuel rocket from a ship near the coast of Haiyang, Shandong on Jan. 11, sending three satellites into the planned orbit.

It was the first flight mission of the YL-1 commercial carrier rocket, setting records as the world’s largest solid-fuel carrier rocket and China’s most powerful commercial launch vehicle.

The rocket’s low Earth orbit payload capacity is 6.5 metric tons, and its sun-synchronous orbit payload capacity at 500 kilometers is 4.2 tons.