On Saturday, the Beijing-based start-up LandSpace reportedly plans to conduct the maiden launch of its Zhuque-3 rocket – a reusable launch vehicle that could significantly boost China’s space industry by lowering the cost of lifting equipment such as satellites into orbit.
The prospect of China mastering reusable rockets – a technology pioneered by US-based SpaceX – has attracted significant attention from aerospace experts, and even drew comment from SpaceX CEO Elon Musk last month.
In this explainer, the Post breaks down the current state of China’s commercial space industry, how close it is to rolling out reusable rockets, and how the technology would benefit the country’s space programme.
How far has China’s commercial space industry come?China’s commercial space sector has grown at a rapid pace over the past few years. As of Monday, the country had more than 90,000 space-related companies, nearly 60 per cent of which were founded in the past three years, according to the Chinese corporate database Qichacha.