The Lijian-1 Y5 commercial carrier rocket, launched on Monday with 15 satellites onboard, features a 3.35-meter diameter fairing designed to enhance the rocket's capability to carry more satellites in the future.
The rocket blasted off at 12:03 (Beijing Time) from a commercial aerospace innovation pilot zone in northwest China, successfully sending the 15 satellites—including the Jilin-1 Gaofen series, Yunyao-1 series, Xiguang-1 series, and a remote-sensing satellite for Oman—into their planned orbits. To meet this mission's requirement for a larger fairing—the protective cover for the satellites—the engineering team used a fairing with a 3.35-meter diameter to accommodate a larger payload or more satellites.
"This 3.35-meter diameter fairing provides the necessary space for additional satellites, and we've also taken other measures to optimize the carrying capacity of the Lijian-1 Y5 rocket. This will help enhance the carrying capacity of our rocket for future satellite launches," said Shi Xiaoning, chief designer of the Lijian-1 Y5 rocket from CAS Space.
This rocket's maximum diameter is 2.65 meters, which narrows down to two meters at the third-stage engine, so the rocket looks as if having "a big head". Although the larger fairing impacts the rocket's flight performance, the team has conducted extensive experiments to ensure the rocket's reliability and flight feasibility.
"We've conducted various ground tests, including aerodynamic wind tunnel tests and noise tests for the noise generated by the large fairing at transonic speeds. Based on these results, we also made additional analyses and tests on individual components," said the chief designer.
Lijian-1 Y5 rocket launches 15 satellites with enhanced fairing for future missions
The China Pavilion at the 2025 Osaka Expo, which will open to the public by next Sunday, welcomed media visits on Monday, sharing sneak peeks highlighting the integration of Chinese philosophy and modern technologies.
As one of the largest foreign self-built facilities at the Osaka Expo, the China Pavilion has adopted the theme "Building a Community of Life for Man and Nature – Future Society of Green Development."
The pavilion consists of three components themed "past, contemporary, and future" respectively, featuring an integration of traditional Chinese philosophic norms and the modern sustainable development principles.
The first section of "Tian Ren He Yi," or the "Harmony Between Mankind and Nature," features traditional Chinese culture and history. The exhibited installations include a digital "waterfall of characters" demonstrating the Chinese writing system's evolution, with the introduction of Jieqi, or 24 solar terms on China's traditional lunisolar calendar that demonstrates the understanding of ancient Chinese people to the nature.
The highlights of the section are exhibitions of ancient Chinese archeological sites, including Sanxingdui in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Liangzhu in east China's Zhejiang Province, and Yinxu in central China's Henan Province, dating back to three to five thousand years ago. Replicas of cultural relics from the three sites are presented in the pavilion, among them are the earliest water conservancy system from the Liangzhu archeological site, and the mysterious Bronze Divine Tree from Sanxingdui.
"This is a replica of the Bronze Divine Tree made in the Shang Dynasty (1600BC-1046BC). It is among the earliest and largest single-piece bronze artifacts discovered in the world so far. Other exhibits here include the bronze standing figure with an animal-shaped hat, and the bronze mask. With a touch on the screen, we can learn about details of the cultural relics by examining their 3D models in an immersive way. And we also provide trilingual introductions for visitors from around the world to know about the relics," said a docent of the China Pavilion.
The second section, named after China's contemporary green development principle of preserving "Lucid Waters and Lush Mountains," presents descriptions of China's natural and cultural landscapes, ecological systems, and achievements in urban management.
Exhibits in the second section include introductions of China's national parks, and the two mega-sized ecological projects, the Dujiangyan Water Conservancy Project, which was initially built over two thousand years ago and which has been maintained and upgraded since then, and the Three-North Shelterbelt Forest Program, one of world's largest afforestation projects.
In the third section of future developments, a model of China's Jiaolong submersible and exhibits of China's aerospace science projects share with the viewers China's spirit of exploration of the unknown.
China Pavilion of 2025 Osaka Expo opens to media for sneak peeks
