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China’s private rocket startup LandSpace is making bold moves to rival Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Earlier this month, the Beijing-based company became the first Chinese firm to test a reusable rocket, the Zhuque-3, signaling a new era for China’s space industry.
Although the Zhuque-3’s first test ended in failure, LandSpace is undeterred. The startup plans more launches and is preparing to go public to fund its ambitious projects. Its goal: to provide China with low-cost, reusable rockets similar to SpaceX’s Falcon 9, News.Az reports, citing Reuters.
LandSpace’s chief designers openly cite SpaceX as inspiration. Zhuque-3 incorporates features like stainless steel sheaths and methalox engines, similar to SpaceX’s Starship. The company emphasizes innovation over imitation, calling the rocket a “Chinese Falcon 9.”
Since China opened its space sector to private firms in 2014, startups like LandSpace have begun reshaping the traditionally state-led industry. Unlike the cautious approach of state entities, LandSpace embraces trial and error, mirroring SpaceX’s philosophy of fast testing and iteration.
LandSpace’s reusable rockets are crucial for China’s plans to launch 10,000 satellites over the coming decades. While the company is still building experience, past setbacks mirror SpaceX’s early failures—Falcon 9 succeeded after several unsuccessful booster landings.
As LandSpace prepares its next launch, the world watches closely to see if China’s SpaceX contender can truly reach orbit—and challenge the U.S. space giant.
I'm curious how it will challenge SpaceX in terms of -- which markets these days are open for bidding both American and Chinese space companies?
The EU has it's own rocket launch interests, even if they're lagging behind. I don't believe Japan would be open to Chinese launch vehicles. India is trying to launch it's own capabilities. I guess the Middle East maybe?
Anyway I'm really glad to see a Chinese firm use cleaner engines, and also more space engineers embracing reusability. I know the engineers at Lockheed wanted to do reusability, but upper management had no interest..
