The Chinese company Landscape continues to develop the Zhuque-3 (ZQ-3), a two-stage reasuable launch vehicle inspired by SpaceX’s Starship and Super Heavy. They achieved their first milestone in January 2024 with a vertical takeoff and vertical landing (VTVL) using their VTVL-1 test vehicle at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center (JSLC) in northern China. By September, the company conducted a second VTVL test where the prototype hovered for over 200 seconds (the previous test lasting 60 seconds), followed by a static fire test with a prototype booster by June.
The latest milestone took place on Monday, Oct. 22nd at the Dongfeng commercial space innovation pilot zone (where the JSLC is located). It involved another static fire test, where the rocket was fully-fueled but remained fixed to the launch pad while the engines were fired. This kind of testing is a crucial prelaunch trial (what NASA refers to as a “wet dress rehearsal”), and places the company and China another step closer to making an inaugural flight test, which is expected to happen by the fourth quarter of 2025.
“The vehicle will next proceed with planned vertical integration rehearsal, before returning to the technical zone for inspection and maintenance in preparation for its upcoming orbital launch and first-stage recovery,” LandSpace officials stated via social media. The company aims to achieve a first stage recovery next year, with the hopes of reusing a recovered prototype next year.
*China’s Zhuque-3 rocket during a static firing test. Credit: China Daily*
In traditional Chinese, Zhuque is the name of the Vermillion Bird that represents fire, the south, and summer, and is one of the four Symbols of the Chinese constellations. Like the Starship, the Zhuque-3 is composed of stainless steel and relies on a combination of liquid methane (LCH4) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellant. The rocket will be powered by nine Tianque-12A (TQ-12A) engines and will measure 65.9 m (216 ft) tall and weigh 550,000 kg (1,210,000 lb). It’s payload capacity will be significantly less than the Starship: 11,800 kg (26,000 lbs) in its expendable mode, and 8,000 kg (18,000 lbs) for the recoverable version.
This is closer in payload capacity to the Falcon 9, which is capable of delivering 22,800 kg (50,265 lbs) to Low Earth Orbit (LEO). In time, the company hopes to transition to the larger Zhuque-3E, which will be 76.2 m (250 ft) tall and powered by nine TQ-12B engines, and will be capable of delivering to 21,000 kg (46,000 lb) in its expandable mode and 18,300 kg (40,300 lb) recoverable. The long term goal is to create a reusable system that can rival the Falcon rocket family, bringing the country closer to its goal of achieving parity with NASA.
China first announced its intention to create a reusable launch system similar to the Starship in 2021 during the sixth Aerospace Industry Achievement Exhibition (aka. “National Space Day”) in Nanjing. In a video presentation titled “Our Global Arrival in the Space Transportation System” (which also featured a rail-launched spaceplane), a two stage rocket similar in profile to the Starship carrying commercial passengers to space.
In April, the China National Space Agency (CNSA) launched three taikonauts to the Tiangong space station for a six-month stay. A month later, China launched its Tianwen-2 spacecraft, which will conduct a sample-return with Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) Kamoʻoalewa, followed by a rendezvous Main Belt comet. China has also indicated that it plans to double the size of its space station so that it may be a successor to the International Space Station (ISS) – scheduled for retirement by 2030.
In that same year, China hopes to send its first crewed mission on the Moon, followed by the development of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS). As a collaborative effort between China and Russia’s national space agency (Roscosmos), this outpost is intended to rival NASA’s Artemis Program and similar efforts to establish a permanent human presence around the Moon’s southern polar region. These developments and plans are all part of China’s goal of becoming one of the top 3 powers in space by the end of the decade, an intention they announced about a decade ago.
Further Reading: Space Daily