“They have incorporated elements of Starship, like the use of stainless steel and methalox propellants, into a Falcon 9-based architecture and would be capable of competing with Falcon 9,” Elon Musk declared in October, marking his first official comment on China’s Zhuque-3 launch vehicle. It marked the importance being increasingly placed on Beijing-based LandSpace, who this past week made history as the first China-based concern to undertake a full test of a reusable launch vehicle the first step towards China’s reusable space plans.
The launch of Zhuque-3 from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center into orbit was successful, although the launch vehicle was not able to finish the proposed landing burn, touching down just meters away from the proposed site. Notwithstanding the difficult landing, the mission has been touted as very close to successful on launch debut. The stainless steel launch vehicle has a height of 66m and a 4.5m diameter core stage propelled by NINE Tianque-12A methane–liquid oxygen engines providing 5,922kN thrust. The propulsion system takes advantage of methane and liquid oxygen, which are more environment-friendly compared to conventional systems.
This is because the development plan of the LandSpace is very much based on the SpaceX development plan. “(SpaceX) can push products to the edge and even into failure, quickly identifying limits and iterating,” Zhuque-3 chief designer Dai Zheng said in an interview with the China state broadcaster, China Central Television, or CCTV. Dai quit China’s state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in 2016, believing in the reusability-based development plan of SpaceX, as he dreamed of developing a similar entity in China. This is according to the deputy chief designer of the LandSpace, who referred to the “Chinese Falcon 9” as “a very great compliment.”
The drive to reusability is deliberate. China has always kept failure behind closed doors, but following the Zhuque-3, China’s first failed commercial space launch recovery, there was another fail—the recovery attempt by the state-controlled company, reported by China’s state broadcaster. This is a significant change in the culture of risk tolerance, from avoiding risk to taking high risk and high reward to achieve low-cost launch and rapid launch rates. China launched a total of 68 orbitals in 2024: all expendable, but still fewer than the number of US launches, which included fewer new first stages due to reusables from SpaceX.
Reusability of rockets is key in Beijing’s ambitions in massive satellite constellations. The Chinese Guowang project, backed by Thousand Sails from Shanghai, intends to launch over 10,000 satellites of its kind within the coming decades, replicating what SpaceX has achieved through its Starlink project. A low-cost launch service like what LandSpace has will be critical in meeting those goals.
There are very costly undertakings, and it is capital-intensive to finance such ambitions. As such, a company with deep pockets such as SpaceX was able to absorb massive loss levels in its testing process of Starship. “For us, we’re not yet able to do that,” admitted Dai, understanding the implications of deep pockets in undertaking ambitious projects. However, in an attempt to fill this gap, it is pertinent to note that capital markets will be liberalized in favor of private rocket manufacturers in China.
The IPO route is consistent with China’s overall strategic focus to bring national ambitions and commercial launch activities into better alignment, according to a report from SpaceNews. Companies that are part of large-scale government-led projects are set to get preferential support, and reusability has been identified as a key enabler to cut reliance on foreign launch providers. China has consistently asserted that SpaceX’s monopoly in low earth orbit is a threat to national security to hasten homegrown solutions to be developed.
Zhuque-3, developed by the private company LandSpace, is part of an enormous and quickly growing sector. China’s launch industry has announcements of the Long March 12A methalox reusable launch vehicle from the state-owned CASC, the kerolox Tianlong-3 reusable launch vehicle by private company Space Pioneer, as well as the Lijian-2 with the intention of reimbursed flights from CAS Space. While LandSpace plans their second Zhuque-3 launch in mid-2026, with plans for full booster back, the future directions of such firms as LandSpace are closely observed. Today, it is not merely about sending vehicles into orbit; it is also an issue relating to achieving it at lower costs, at frequent intervals, and utilizing technologies that can measure up or compete with SpaceX standouts.