RIZHAO, Shandong, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- A Smart Dragon-3 (SD-3) rocket lifted off on Saturday morning from east China's Shandong Province, sending the Geely-04 constellation of 11 satellites into planned orbit.

The rocket blasted off from sea at 12:31 a.m. (Beijing Time) near the city of Rizhao. The Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center conducted the offshore launch mission.

It was the 6th flight mission to use an SD-3 rocket, according to the launch center.

With a total length of 31 meters and a weight of 140 tonnes, the SD-3 is part of China's Dragon rocket family. Unlike the Long March rockets, which form the backbone of the country's space-launch vehicles, the Dragon series has been developed specifically to meet the growing market demand for launches of small commercial low-orbit satellites and satellite networks.

Saturday's mission fully demonstrated the rocket's rapid-response and high-efficiency capabilities in the commercial launch sector, said Liu Wei, deputy chief designer of the SD-3, while adding that the rocket will meet the market's ever-growing demands in an improved manner.

Owned by Geespace, a private satellite maker and subsidiary of Geely Holding Group based in Hangzhou in east China, the Geely constellation focuses on conducting satellite Internet of Things (IoT) and inter-satellite communication trials across scenarios such as intelligent networking, marine fisheries, low-altitude transportation and emergency communications. It also carries out Earth-observation remote sensing for ecological and environmental monitoring.

The company said it had already deployed 30 satellites in a 600-kilometer orbit via previous launches. After Saturday's mission, the Geely space constellation has grown to 41 satellites -- and the total number is expected to reach 64 within the next two months. Once the constellation is complete, it will provide commercial satellite IoT communication services to users worldwide. Enditem