Landspace's reusable rocket's maiden flight successful – landing not

The Chinese space company Landspace has launched its reusable heavy-lift rocket ZhuQue-3 (ZQ-3) for the first time. The maiden flight was successful, but not in every respect.

The maiden flight of the ZQ-3 took place at the Jiuquan rocket launch site in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. During the flight, all important processes proceeded as planned, Landspace announced: the launch, the separation of the two stages, the jettisoning of the payload fairing, the shutdown and reignition of the upper stage engines. The second stage entered the intended orbit.

The return of the first stage to Earth was less according to plan: an anomaly occurred during the landing phase after the engines were ignited. This prevented a soft landing of the first stage, and it exploded on impact.

Search for the cause

A video published on the Chinese microblogging service Weibo shows the rocket stage igniting its engines during descent. A problem occurs, and the stage hits the ground burning. The reason for the landing failure is still being investigated.

Even though the first landing attempt was not successful, the maiden flight of the ZQ-3 is a success: Landspace is the first private space company from China and, at the same time, the country's first space actor to rely on reusable spacecraft. So far, only US competitors SpaceX and Blue Origin have managed to land and relaunch rocket stages. Reusing rocket stages and other components is intended to reduce the costs of spaceflight.

The two-stage rocket ZhuQue-3, named after the classic Chinese constellation of the Southern Vermilion Bird, is 66.1 meters high in its first version and has a diameter of 4.5 meters. The payload capsule has a diameter of 5.2 meters. The launch mass is approximately 560 tons.

First stage made of stainless steel

The first stage is mainly made of stainless steel. It is powered by nine Tianque-12A engines, which run on liquid oxygen (LOX) and methane (LCH4). In this configuration, the rocket is designed to carry eight tons of payload into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). If the stage is not intended to return to Earth for reuse, the payload increases to 11.8 tons.

A larger variant, the ZQ-3E, is planned, which will be 76 meters tall. It is intended to carry 18.3 tons of payload into LEO or 21.3 tons if it is not to be reused.

Landspace is the first Chinese space company to launch its own rocket in 2018, albeit unsuccessfully at the time. Since 2023, it has carried out several launches with the Zhuque-2 rocket, bringing satellites into LEO and sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). In 2024, Landspace successfully tested the controlled descent of a ZQ-3 for the first time.

(wpl)