The Long March 12A is developed by one of China's renowned rocket developers, the Shanghai Academy of Space Technology (SAST), part of the country's state-owned aerospace enterprise. The Long March 12A has performance comparable to LandSpace's Zhuque-3 and will also aim to land its booster stage at the lower end of the range on its maiden flight.
Several other rocket developers also say they are weeks or months away from launching their first reusable boosters. One of them, Space Pioneer, could be the first to fly on its new Tianlong-3 rocket, if not for a difficult problem accidental launch during launch vehicle test launches last year. Space Pioneer eventually completed a successful static launch in September of this year, and the company recently released a photo of its rocket on the launch pad.
The Zhuke-3 rocket begins its first flight.
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Each of these new rockets is capable of launching a medium-class payload into orbit. In its first version, the Zhuque-3 rocket is capable of delivering a payload of more than 17,600 pounds (8 metric tons) into low-Earth orbit after accounting for the fuel reserves needed to recover the launch vehicle. This makes Zhuque-3 the largest and most powerful commercial rocket ever launched from China.
LandSpace eventually plans to introduce an upgraded Zhuque-3 with more fuel and more powerful engines, increasing its payload capacity to more than 40,000 pounds (18.3 metric tons) in reusable mode, or several tons more with a disposable booster.
Since its founding in 2015, LandSpace has raised more than $400 million, mostly from venture capital firms and government-backed investment funds. LandSpace initially developed its own liquid-propellant engines and the Zhuque-2 light launch vehicle, which became The world's first methane-fueled launch vehicle reaches orbit in 2023. LandSpace's Zhuque-2 completed four successful missions in six attempts.
The larger Zhuque-3 is a “low-cost, high-performance, next-generation reusable LOX/methane launch vehicle,” LandSpace says. The company plans to reuse its Zhuque-3 boosters at least 20 times, “enabling efficient deployment of multiple satellites for Internet constellations and China's future space programs.”
