HELSINKI \u2014 Landspace, one of China\u2019s leading launch startups, has had its application for an initial public offering accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange\u2019s STAR Market.<\/p>\n
The Shanghai Stock Exchange website showed the IPO status for Landspace Technology Co., Ltd. had changed to \u201caccepted,\u201d Chinese media reported<\/a> Dec. 31. Landspace, which recently made China\u2019s first-ever attempt at recovering an orbital booster, is seeking to raise around $1 billion (7.5 billion yuan), according to its prospectus, to support its drive to develop and scale reusable launch services.<\/p>\n Landspace successfully sent the second stage of its stainless steel Zhuque-3 into orbit<\/a> Dec. 2 Eastern, but the propulsive vertical landing attempt at a downrange pad failed shortly after its landing burn. It plans a second launch in the first half of 2026.<\/p>\n The firm\u2019s acceptance onto the tech-focused STAR Market follows an announcement Dec. 26 that rules for eligibility of commercial rocket firms had been eased by Chinese regulators. It appears to also represent a major milestone for the commercial space market in China, signaling commercial firms gaining credibility and access to public capital markets. It follows strong policy support for commercial space from China\u2019s central government.\u00a0<\/p>\n Landspace filed preliminary documents<\/a> with STAR Market in late July 2025, targeting going public as soon as early 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n The $1 billion target comes despite the company having a limited launch record, with a single, failed launch of the solid Zhuque-1 in 2018, six flights of the methalox Zhuque-2 series\u2014with the first, in December 2022, and latest, in August 2025, ending in failure<\/a>\u2014and the single successful launch of the Zhuque-3 in December, which carried no payload.\u00a0 The company is aiming to win contracts to launch batches of satellites for the Guowang and Qianfan (Thousand Sails) megaconstellations, as well as the Honghu-3 constellation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Other launch firms including CAS Space, a spinoff from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in early August, and commercial launch firms Space Pioneer and Galactic Energy, both in October<\/a>, have also filed documents ahead of planned IPOs.\u00a0<\/p>\n Along with Landspace, all three are also developing reusable launch vehicles. The first launches of the medium-lift Pallas-1 (Galactic Energy), Kinetica-2 (CAS Space) and Tianlong-3 (Space Pioneer) rockets are expected in the coming weeks, though booster recovery attempts are not expected for the debut launch attempts.\u00a0The firms are all also working on larger reusable launch vehicles. <\/p>\n