China's Kinetica-2 Y2 rocket blasted off at 08:15 Beijing Time, carrying Batch 21 of the Qianfan polar orbit constellation, a payload of 18 satellites. Dramatic footage shows an aerial view of the rocket igniting on its desert launch pad, with massive orange smoke plumes rolling across the ground. The next shots follow the rocket as it climbs, silhouetted against the bright morning sun. The caption sums it up: "Morning light splits the desert. Eighteen stars stitch the sky." Reports from the launch say all 18 satellites were delivered to their planned orbits.

The mission is another visible step in building China's satellite internet network, often compared to Starlink, and it carries extra weight for the rocket itself. Kinetica-2 was developed by the commercial launch company CAS Space, and this flight is described as its first large-scale satellite internet networking mission. Reports also say a new mechanism released all 18 satellites at the same moment, instead of ejecting them one by one, which could make future batch launches faster and simpler. That raises the obvious questions of how quickly Qianfan can grow and how many more batches are coming. CAS Space is reportedly aiming for another Kinetica-2 flight with 18 more Qianfan satellites in December, but that schedule hasn't been confirmed.