LandSpace Achieves Land Recovery of Orbital Booster
In a global first, China's commercial rocket company LandSpace has recovered a stainless-steel booster after an orbital launch, marking a significant step in the country's push toward reusable rocket technology. The first stage of the Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket made a controlled soft landing on solid ground on August 19, according to multiple reports.
The booster touched down vertically at a recovery site in Minqin County, Gansu Province, about 390 kilometers southeast of its launch pad at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre. The launch occurred at 7:35 a.m. local time on Wednesday, as reported by state news agency Xinhua. The rocket delivered a Honghu-3 internet satellite into its designated orbit, while the first stage returned to Earth using deployable landing legs.
This was LandSpace's second attempt to launch the Zhuque-3 into orbit and recover its first stage. During its maiden flight in December, the second stage successfully reached orbit, but the first stage erupted in a dramatic fireball during its final powered descent, as noted by the South China Morning Post.
The Zhuque-3, developed by Beijing-based commercial firm LandSpace, is a two-stage, liquid oxygen-methane vehicle standing 66.1 meters tall with a 4.5-meter diameter, according to Xinhua. Its first stage is powered by nine Tianque-12A engines and equipped with grid fins, attitude-control systems, and landing legs. The company aims to reuse the boosters up to 20 times.
China's Dual-Path Recovery Milestone
The land recovery follows a successful sea recovery in July, making this the second time China has recovered a rocket stage. On July 10, the first stage of a Long March-10B rocket, operated by state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), separated from the second stage and was recovered using a net-capture system on an offshore vessel in the South China Sea—the world's first such recovery of an orbital booster at sea.
The two successes establish China as the first nation to demonstrate controlled recovery of orbital-class boosters via two distinct technical paths, according to ThePrint. The recovery also marked China's first use of deployable landing legs, which Xinhua deemed "a breakthrough in the country's reusable rocket technology."
The development places China alongside the United States as only the second nation to achieve orbital-class booster recovery. SpaceX and Blue Origin have been recovering rockets since 2015, helping drive down launch costs by reusing hardware that would otherwise be discarded. SpaceX's Super Heavy booster, also made of stainless steel, is awaiting US Federal Aviation Administration approval for its first recovery flight.
Strategic and Military Implications
Defence experts said the technology would dramatically lower the cost of putting satellites into space and increase the frequency of launches, according to the South China Morning Post. Mastering reusability will improve the People's Liberation Army's space capabilities—including communication, navigation, and surveillance—much like how SpaceX supports the US military, the report added.
Malcolm Davis, a senior analyst with the Australian Strategic Policy Institute's defence strategy programme, said space was the most crucial operational domain in modern warfare. He noted that modern militaries relied heavily on space for everything from communications and battlespace awareness to positioning, navigation, and timing using systems such as GPS. Without those abilities, militaries could be left "effectively deaf, dumb and blind," severely degrading their ability to communicate and conduct operations, Davis added.
Comparison with International Efforts
The achievement comes as other nations and companies pursue similar reusable rocket technology. Japan conducted its first test flight of an experimental reusable rocket the day after China's land recovery, which took off and landed safely, according to The Hindu. The Hindu also noted that China's success marks the second time the country has recovered a rocket stage, following the sea platform recovery in July.
The Zhuque-3 is China's first commercial rocket to both reach orbit and have its first stage recovered, as reported by the South China Morning Post. The milestone highlights the rapid progress of China's commercial space sector and its broader ambitions in space exploration and military capabilities.