Beijing-based company LandSpace set the stage for next year’s maiden flight of its reusable Zhuque-3 rocket with a 10km (6-mile) vertical take-off, vertical landing (VTVL) test in China’s Gobi Desert on Wednesday.
The 200-second test flight was also the first time engine reignition – a critical deceleration phase in rocket recovery – was tested in China, in what state broadcaster CCTV called a “breakthrough” for the country’s commercial space sector.
Dai Zheng, commander of the Zhuque-3 project, said the test validated in-flight engine cut-off and restart, as well as other key technologies including joint guidance and control, as well as precise landing.
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The test marked a “crucial step” towards low-cost, high-frequency space launches, said Dai in the CCTV report. “We have verified these core technologies in advance, laying a solid foundation for the flight and recovery of the rocket.”
An engineer from the Zhuque-3 team, speaking anonymously to the South China Morning Post, said that Wednesday’s test – which was postponed three times before going ahead – exceeded expectations.
However, the technologies still lag significantly behind industry leaders like the Texas-based rocket company SpaceX, he said. “China may have its own Falcon 9 rocket in five years and Starship in 20 years. We need to work hard to catch up.”
Wednesday’s test rocket was 18.3 metres (60ft) tall and powered by a single Tianque-12B engine, independently developed by LandSpace. The Zhuque-3 will eventually stand at 76.6 metres (251ft), with nine Tianque-12B engines.
Around 113 seconds after lift-off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northern China, the engine shut down and the test rocket coasted on inertia to its peak altitude of 10,002 metres (32,800ft), the company said on its WeChat account.
The engine was fired again for deceleration and landing during the rocket’s descent at 4,640 metres (15,200ft) above the ground. The test rocket landed precisely – less than two metres from the landing pad’s centre – 3.2km (two miles) from the launch site.
The two-stage Zhuque-3 will be China’s first stainless steel liquid propellant rocket, using methane and liquid oxygen to produce a combined thrust of 900 tonnes at lift-off.
Designed to deliver up to 21.3 tonnes to low Earth orbit for single-use missions and 18.3 tonnes for recovery missions, the developers expect the rocket’s first stage will be reused at least 20 times.
A successful maiden flight in 2025 – the company’s stated goal on its WeChat account – would position LandSpace as a strong competitor in China’s broadband satellite constellation launch services.
Along with other reusable rockets being developed in China, Zhuque-3 will support the high-frequency launches for China’s broadband internet constellations, including Guo Wang and Thousand Sails, each eventually comprising more than 13,000 satellites.
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