LandSpace has begun a detailed analysis of its first Zhuque-3 (ZQ 3) orbital test after the reusable rocket's booster was lost during an attempted landing, even as the mission's upper stage reached its planned orbit. The flight, conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, marked China's first orbital-class launch attempt with a stainless-steel methane-fueled vehicle designed from the out Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 04, 2025
LandSpace has begun a detailed analysis of its first Zhuque-3 (ZQ 3) orbital test after the reusable rocket's booster was lost during an attempted landing, even as the mission's upper stage reached its planned orbit. The flight, conducted from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, marked China's first orbital-class launch attempt with a stainless-steel methane-fueled vehicle designed from the outset for reusability.
The ZQ 3 Y1 mission lifted off around noon local time, with nine methane-fueled engines powering the first stage and a single upper-stage engine carrying a mass simulator toward low Earth orbit. After stage separation, the upper stage proceeded to its target orbit, while the booster initiated a return trajectory toward a designated recovery area near Minqin county in Gansu province, roughly 390 kilometers downrange.
According to LandSpace and multiple external reports, the booster conducted its planned re-entry and approach before encountering an anomaly late in the landing sequence. The stage broke up in the air above the recovery corridor, with debris falling inside the pre-cleared zone at the edge of the intended landing area.
LandSpace stated that the test verified the overall launch and flight plan for Zhuque-3 and confirmed the compatibility of interfaces between major systems on the vehicle. The company said it collected critical technical data throughout ascent, re-entry, and the landing attempt, providing the basis for optimizing the rocket's design and recovery procedures.
Zhuque-3 is built around stainless-steel propellant tanks and methane engines, a combination selected to balance structural strength, temperature resistance, corrosion resistance, and production cost while supporting multiple uses of the first stage. The launcher stands about 66 meters tall, with a diameter of 4.5 meters and a liftoff mass close to 560 - 570 metric tons, and is designed to place heavy payloads into low Earth and sun-synchronous orbits.
The first stage is equipped with grid fins and four deployable landing legs to enable vertical landings on a pad in the downrange recovery zone. For this debut mission, the booster followed a return profile similar in concept to other reusable rockets, including a controlled re-entry and a powered final descent aimed at a concrete landing site.
LandSpace has not yet released a detailed cause for the anomaly but said engineers are now examining high-rate telemetry from the landing burn to identify the sequence of events leading to the breakup. The review is expected to focus on engine performance during the final burn, structural loads in the lower atmosphere, and the behavior of guidance and control systems during the last phase of descent.
The company has indicated that Zhuque-3 will continue through a stepwise test campaign, with each mission intended to refine hardware and software toward operational reusability. Analysts note that recovery attempts in other reusable programs have also experienced early failures, and describe the ZQ 3 Y1 flight as part of the normal development path for a new booster rather than a final verdict on the technology.
LandSpace previously reached orbit with its expendable methane-fueled Zhuque-2 rocket in 2023, but Zhuque-3 is its first heavy-lift platform aimed at reflight of the first stage. By maturing its recovery system, the company is seeking to compete for commercial constellation launches and other missions that place a premium on lower cost per kilogram to orbit.
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