China launched the country's first satellite equipped with a flexible solar array on Sunday. Developed by GalaxySpace, a Beijing-based private satellite maker, the Lingxi 03 is a plate-shaped communication satellite. It is equipped with a millimeter-wave multi-beam digital payload, which has a transmission capacity of tens of gigabits per second. Together with three remote-sensing satellites, Lingxi 03 was carried into space by a Long March 2D rocket that lifted off at 10:50 am at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province.

The satellite is designed to verify next-generation low-Earth-orbit broadband communication systems and other satellite technologies including ultra-large energy systems and active thermal control, GalaxySpace said in a news release. Its launch also marked the first in-orbit verification of China's multi-satellite stack deployment method that will be used when a rocket needs to place a number of plate-shaped satellites into orbit. The method will play a major role in the rapid deployment of many communication satellites in low orbit.

Zhu Zhengxian, chief technology officer of GalaxySpace, said Lingxi 03 is the first in China to use a flexible solar wing. "It is extremely thin — each layer on it is only about one millimeter thick and when the wing was folded inside the rocket (before the launch), its overall thickness was only five centimeters," he said. "When fully unfolded in space, the array stretches to a length of about nine meters and a width of above 2.5 meters. It is characterized by a small folded size, light weight and modular design." The launch was China's 30th this year and also the 479th flight of the Long March rocket family.