LandSpace became the third private company globally to successfully recover an orbital-class rocket booster, marking a significant milestone for China's commercial space industry and the firm's path toward profitability.
Chinese space startup LandSpace achieved a major technological milestone on Wednesday by successfully recovering the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket, joining SpaceX and Blue Origin as the only private companies to accomplish this feat. The nine-engine booster landed in Gansu province, approximately 390 kilometers southeast of the launch site in northwestern China's Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone. The achievement represents LandSpace's second attempt at booster recovery and comes after several earlier efforts by Chinese entities to master this critical capability.
The ability to recover and reuse rocket boosters is fundamental to reducing launch costs and making space exploration commercially sustainable. LandSpace's stainless-steel Zhuque-3 rocket, designed as a Chinese counterpart to SpaceX's Falcon 9, features a different design approach using methane and liquid oxygen propulsion rather than kerosene-based fuel. The company claims the stainless-steel construction offers superior heat resistance and lower manufacturing costs. While the Zhuque-3 carries a smaller payload of 14.2 metric tons to low-Earth orbit compared to the Falcon 9's 22.8 tons, LandSpace aims to reuse its booster up to 20 times.
The successful landing is likely to strengthen investor confidence as LandSpace pursues listing on Shanghai's STAR Market with plans to raise 7.5 billion yuan (approximately US$1.11 billion). The company has previously stated ambitions to achieve profitability by 2029. Additionally, LandSpace intends to reuse a recovered first-stage booster within six months, a step officials characterize as foundational for establishing frequent, cost-effective commercial launches in the future.
