Jielong 3

Jielong 3 (Chinese: 捷龙三号运载火箭, meaning "agile dragon", also known as Smart Dragon 3, SD-3), is a solid fueled orbital launch vehicle developed by China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology's subsidiary China Rocket to launch up to 1500 kg to a 500 km altitude Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).

The maiden flight of Jielong 3 on 9 December 2022, 06:35 UTC was successful.

The satellites were Jilin-1 Gaofen-03D-44-50 and Pingtai-01A01, HEAD 2H, Jinzijing Qilu-1 05 and 06, Tianqi 07, Huoju 1 (Torch 1) and CAS 5A.

The carrying capacity of the Jielong 3 launcher initially stood at 1,560 kilograms to 500 kilometres SSO orbits, but this has since increased to 1,600 kilograms by the rocket's fifth launch on 13 January, 2025.

Also in January 2025, Gao Lijun from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) stated that further improvments will be made to the rocket in order to enable it eventually to carry up to two metric tons to 500 km SSO orbits.