China Landspace Reusable Zhuque-3 Commercial Rocket: Launchpad Views
Elon Musk has commented on the Landspace Zhuque-3's design: "They have added aspects of Starship, such as use of stainless steel and methalox, to a Falcon 9 architecture, which would enable it to beat Falcon 9 . . ."
Zhuque-3 use of liquid methane and liquid oxygen as propellants is called methalox propulsion.
The SpaceX Falcon 9 uses an aluminum alloy and carbon fiber for its first stage fairing, along with liquid oxygen (LOX) and RP-1, a refined kerosene, as fuel.
Preparation for the maiden flight of China's reusable rocket Zhuque-3 has entered a critical phase after the completion of joint fueling drills and static ignition tests from October 18 to 20, 2025. The successful tests also laid the groundwork for the rocket's official launch and first-stage recovery later this year.
With a diameter of 4.5 meters and a total length of around 66 meters, the Zhuque-3 rocket can carry up to 18 satellites per launch, making it an ideal choice for launching satellites for large-scale constellation networks.
Equipped with landing legs and grid fins for controlled descent, the rocket is designed to vertically recover its most expensive component—the first stage, accounting for 70 percent of the rocket's total cost.
As its first stage is designed to be reused at least 20 times, the rocket has the potential to reduce launch costs by 80 to 90 percent compared with single-use rockets.
Powered by a parallel cluster of nine liquid oxygen-methane engines, the first-stage can achieve meter-level landing precision, as five of the engines are capable of gimballing.
In addition, these engines produce a combined thrust of more than 7,500 kilonewtons, setting a new record for Chinese commercial liquid-fueled rockets.
Beijing-based LandSpace is a leading Chinese private space company. With its Zhuque-2 rocket, LandSpace became the world's first company to launch a methane-liquid oxygen rocket to Earth orbit in July 2023, ahead of U.S. rivals, including Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
The successful Zhuque-3 development marks a significant stride in the pursuit of low-cost, high-frequency, and large-capacity space launches for China's private space industry.
The Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in nortwestern China was founded in 1958. It was the first of China's four spaceports. The launch center has been the focus of many of China's historic space ventures, including the country's first satellite Dong Fang Hong I in 1970 and their first crewed space mission, Shenzhou V, on October 15, 2003. JSLC is now a home for many new Chinese commercial space launch firms, like Landspace.
Credit: Landspace
Release Date: Oct. 23, 2025
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