A Smart Dragon-3 rocket lifted the satellite at 10:38 Beijing time from waters near Haiyang in Shandong province, on the rocket’s 12th flight and China’s second sea launch in two weeks, by Global Times’ account. A second satellite on the same rocket, Lampung-1, carries an Indonesian province’s name for the same kind of partnership.
The payload reads reflected light across more than 20 spectral bands, against the limited ranges of conventional imaging satellites; Global Times counts 22 hyperspectral channels. The Uzbek contribution processes that data in orbit: by the account Uzcosmos has given through Uzbek outlets, the module runs analysis on board and cuts the volume transmitted to Earth. The stated applications are agriculture, water, ecology, mineral exploration and early disaster detection.
The rocket, the platform and the satellite are Chinese; the national contribution rides as software.
The build is otherwise Chinese end to end. The two satellites were developed at Wuhan University under the STAR.AI company’s guidance, with Star Vision as the operator that signed a memorandum with Uzcosmos in November 2025. The name marks Samarkand’s turn as host of the 79th International Astronautical Congress in 2028. Spring statements had set the launch for May; it went in August.
Uzbek outlets have carried the project as the country’s first satellite since it was announced. What Wednesday actually demonstrated is the current market structure of regional space ambition: orbit is available by ticket, and Beijing is selling.