The Zhuque-3 first stage is powered by nine Tianque-12A methane-liquid oxygen engines self-developed by Landspace. The company carried out a 45-second hot fire test of the first stage last month, successfully firing all nine engines in sequence.<\/p>\n
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The Chinese company Landspace conducts an engine test with the first stage of its methane-fueled Zhuque-3 rocket in June 2025. (Image credit: CCTV)<\/p>\n
The successful test has now paved the way for a first orbital launch in the final quarter of 2025, according to a CCTV report.<\/p>\n
Zhuque-3, which is named for the vermillion bird from Chinese mythology, is designed to carry up to 40,350 pounds (18,300 kilograms) to low Earth orbit<\/a> (LEO) in reusable mode. The first Zhuque-3 rockets will stand around 217 feet (66 meters) tall, before possibly being extended by around 33 ft (10m) and upgraded with Tianque-12B engines.<\/p>\n The rocket could mark a major breakthrough for Chinese reusable launchers and also boost the country’s overall capabilities. By comparison, China’s current most powerful rocket is the expendable Long March<\/a> 5 series rocket, which can carry around 55,100 lbs (25,000 kg) to LEO. SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9<\/a>, meanwhile, can haul about 50,265 pounds (22,800 kg) to LEO, according to its specifications page<\/a>.<\/p>\n Landspace is one of China’s earliest commercial rocket companies. Its first launch, with the solid propellant Zhuque-1, failed on its first and only launch in 2018, with the company pivoting to focus on the methane-liquid oxygen propellant Zhuque-2<\/a>. That rocket would, in July 2023, become the first rocket using this propellant mix to reach orbit.<\/p>\n The Zhuque-3 faces a number of competitors, with commercial counterparts Space Pioneer<\/a>, iSpace<\/a>, Galactic Energy<\/a> and Orienspace<\/a>, as well as the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp., among those working on their own reusable rockets.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Chinese commercial launch firm Landspace is preparing for the first flight of its Zhuque-3 rocket, with a debut…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":4562,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[79,193],"class_list":["post-4561","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4561"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4561\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/4562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4561"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4561"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4561"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}