A Reusable Chinese Stainless Steel Rocket in 2025?

As one of the leading Chinese commercial launch companies, Landspace is currently operating the medium-lift methalox-fueled Zhuque-2, and plans to roll out the heavy-lift Zhuque-3 rocket. The latter is a partially reusable rocket with similar specifications to SpaceX's Falcon-9, and could represent one of the first "Chinese Falcon 9s" to be available.

While there are strong ressemblances between the two rockets, the Zhuque-3 has some differences, including the choice of propellant (methane), materials used (stainless steel), and its rocket booster recovery approach.

In this episode, we deep dive into these topics, while also going over the history of Landspace. Enjoy!

If you like what you see and would like to support me, please consider joining our small Patreon community at   / dongfanghour   !
We also have some very cool space merch available at https://shop.dongfanghour.com .

00:00 Introduction
00:17 Landspace's Beginnings
02:06 The First (Failed) rocket: the Zhuque-1
03:32 All-in on Liquid-fueled Rockets
4:03 the Medium-lift Zhuque-2 & How it's Different
5:33 Landspace's own Launch Site
7:21 the Reusable Stainless Steel Zhuque-3
10:12 Recovering Rockets on Land!
11:18 Perspectives for 2024 and 2025