China’s Galactic Energy Pushes Toward World’s First Electromagnetic Launch Rocket

China is quietly but decisively advancing one of the most ambitious launch technologies on the planet — electromagnetic rocket launch — and private aerospace firm Galactic Energy is positioning itself to be the first to put it into operational service. The technology received a major validation on April 15, 2025, when China's electromagnetic launch test bed, operated by the Ziyang Commercial Space Launch Technology Research Institute in Sichuan province, completed its first full system test. A 1.4-meter-diameter rocket model was successfully ejected from the electromagnetic test platform, verifying critical subsystems including flywheel energy storage, high-performance electromagnetic propulsion control, and a real-time digital twin system. The facility is recognized as the world's first electromagnetic launch verification platform based on superconducting magnetic levitation. Subsequent tests have accelerated progress. In January 2026, an advanced trial incorporating matrix switching technology, segmented power supply, and step traction improved overall system efficiency by approximately 90%. Two months later, in March 2026, a high-temperature superconducting navigation test was completed successfully, further de-risking the path to operational deployment. The core concept is elegant in its simplicity: an electromagnetic launch track acts as a "zero-stage booster," accelerating a rocket to supersonic speeds on the ground before its main engines even ignite. This eliminates the need for a significant portion of first-stage propellant, meaning that for the same takeoff mass, a rocket can deliver roughly double the payload to orbit. Galactic Energy is developing the Ceres-2 rocket specifically to exploit this capability. With a target capacity of 3.5 metric tons, Ceres-2 aims to become the world's first operational electromagnetic launch rocket by 2028. The technology lineage traces back to the pioneering work of Professor Ma Weiming, the Chinese naval engineer whose electromagnetic launch research laid the groundwork for the electromagnetic catapult system on China's aircraft carrier Fujian. That same fundamental science is now being adapted for space access. If successful, Galactic Energy's approach could fundamentally shift the economics of small-to-medium satellite launch, offering a highly reusable, ground-based boost stage that significantly reduces cost per kilogram to orbit. The 2028 target is ambitious, but with a test campaign already demonstrating dramatic efficiency gains, China's electromagnetic launch rocket is no longer a theoretical exercise — it is a hardware program on a clear trajectory.