China’s commercial space industry has reached a major milestone. Private aerospace company LandSpace successfully recovered the first stage of its Zhuque-3 rocket on land after an orbital launch.
The achievement marks the first time China has recovered an orbital rocket booster at a land-based site.
Zhuque-3 completes successful launch and landing
The Zhuque-3 lifted off at 7:35 a.m. local time from the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone in northwestern China.
After stage separation, the rocket’s first stage began its controlled return to Earth. It then descended toward a designated recovery area and landed vertically using deployable landing legs.
Video broadcast by Chinese state television showed the booster slowing during its descent before touching down safely in the desert.
Meanwhile, the mission also successfully placed the Honghu-03 satellite into orbit. Therefore, the flight achieved both its orbital mission and its booster recovery goal.
China advances reusable rocket technology
The successful landing comes shortly after another major achievement in China’s reusable rocket program.
In July, the first stage of the state-developed Long March-10B was recovered on a platform at sea. That mission used a net-based capture system instead of traditional landing legs.
As a result, Chinese rocket developers have now demonstrated two different approaches to recovering orbital-class boosters.
Reusable rockets have become increasingly important for the global space industry. Recovering and flying boosters again can reduce launch costs and increase the number of missions a company can carry out.
SpaceX has used this model extensively with its Falcon 9 rocket. Blue Origin has also developed rockets designed for reuse.
LandSpace targets lower launch costs
LandSpace developed the Zhuque-3 as a reusable stainless-steel launch vehicle. The company hopes the rocket will carry larger payloads while lowering the cost of reaching orbit.
The latest landing gives LandSpace valuable data on how its booster performs during launch, atmospheric re-entry and vertical recovery.
More importantly, the successful test could help the company move closer to regularly reusing rocket stages.
China has invested heavily in both government-backed and private space projects in recent years. The country is expanding its satellite networks, launch capacity and reusable rocket technology.
For LandSpace, the Zhuque-3 landing represents a major step forward. It also brings China closer to making reusable orbital rocket launches a routine part of its growing commercial space program.
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