深蓝航天 Deep Blue Limited – Deep Blue Aerospace Landspace One of sixty Chinese private space Carrier Rocket Companies in China-People’s Republic of China… As many of sixty plus Private Rocket Deep Blue Aerospace Co., Ltd. was established in 2017. The company is mainly a high-tech aerospace enterprise that focuses on the direction of liquid recovery and reusable launch vehicles and provides users with commercial launch services. Deep Blue Aerospace Co., Ltd. is headquartered in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province. At the same time, the company has rocket general and liquid engine R&D centers in Yizhuang, Beijing and Xi’an, Shaanxi, respectively, and a rocket power system test base in Tongchuan, Shaanxi…..
The Zhuque-3 (YY1) carrier rocket is expected to make its maiden flight at the Blue Arrow Aerospace Liquid Oxygen Methane Launch Pad 2 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center as early as 12:00 Beijing time on December 3, 2025. Following this, the first stage of the rocket will attempt its first orbital recovery. As a reusable large liquid oxygen methane carrier rocket developed by a private commercial rocket company, it has attracted considerable attention due to a combination of factors. How should we view the Zhuque-3 and its maiden flight?
Representative of China’s reusable liquid oxygen-methane rocket
In the global space industry, with the in-depth development of Earth orbit resources and the advancement of space technology, the number and quality of planned spacecraft launches are rapidly increasing, while the launch opportunities provided by launch vehicles, especially large launch vehicles, are limited. Following the implementation of space engineering plans exemplified by giant low-Earth orbit satellite constellations, a huge number of constellation satellites are queuing for launch, exacerbating the contradiction of too many satellites and too few launch vehicles. This urgently necessitates large launch vehicles to provide low-cost launch services, making large reusable liquid oxygen-methane rockets one of the optimal choices.
Founded in June 2015, LandSpace is one of China’s earliest private commercial rocket companies, aiming to develop reusable rockets, benchmarking against SpaceX. Leveraging its late-mover advantage, LandSpace skipped the liquid oxygen/kerosene route in its liquid rocket development, opting directly for the superior liquid oxygen/methane route. LandSpace first developed the expendable liquid rocket “Zhuque-2,” and then built the large, reusable methane rocket “Zhuque-3” based on the main propulsion technology of “Zhuque-2.”
In the long run, among reusable rockets, the liquid oxygen-methane propulsion route is a superior overall choice compared to the liquid oxygen-kerosene propulsion route. While methane, as its propellant, offers some cost advantages, its greatest advantage lies in the time cost advantage regarding the reusability interval. Because the coking and carbon buildup after methane combustion is extremely minimal, recovery and maintenance costs are lower. More importantly, its recovery and reuse cycle is shorter, enabling immediate reuse upon recovery. A single rocket module can achieve a higher frequency of launches, further driving down launch costs.
As one of the earliest private commercial rocket companies in China to explore liquid oxygen-methane propulsion, LandSpace was also one of the first companies in China to plan and develop reusable liquid oxygen-methane rockets. Its flagship, the “Zhuque-3,” has become a representative of China’s reusable liquid oxygen-methane rockets. After the improved version of the “Zhuque-3” enters operation, it will gradually meet the launch requirements of “large payload capacity, high frequency, and low cost,” and will ultimately become the mainstay model of China’s commercial launch vehicles.
One of China’s earliest rockets to achieve orbital recovery.
For half a century after the successful launch of the world’s first artificial Earth satellite, major spacefaring nations primarily developed expendable launch vehicles. Later, due to increased launch demands and technological advancements, reusable rockets became an option. As early as the late 20th century, China closely monitored the development of reusable launch vehicles globally. In the early 21st century, China began exploring reusable rocket technologies and made appropriate progress in tackling key technologies for reusable launch vehicles. Today, with SpaceX having successfully pioneered the reusable rocket route, developing reusable rockets has become an inevitable trend.
Starting in the 2020s, based on the previous technological accumulation, China successively launched the development of multiple types of reusable rockets. State-owned aerospace enterprises and commercial aerospace enterprises made progress at the same time. In terms of development progress, “Zhuque-3” is one of the most advanced reusable models.
Currently, at the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Experimental Zone of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, four types of liquid-fueled launch vehicles built to reusable standards have entered the site for their maiden flights, including Tianbing Technology’s “Tianlong-3”, CAS Aerospace’s “Lijian-2”, the Eighth Academy of Aerospace Science and Technology’s “Long March 12A” and “Zhuque-3”. Among them, the first stage of “Long March 12A” and “Zhuque-3” has the capability to attempt orbital recovery.
In 2024, at the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Experimental Zone, the “Zhuque-3” VTVL-1 recovery test rocket successfully completed a 350-meter low-altitude vertical takeoff and landing flight test (January 19, 2024) and a 10-kilometer vertical takeoff and landing flight test (September 11, 2024). On June 23, 2024, at the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Experimental Zone, the “Long March 12A” Longxing-2 test rocket successfully completed a 12-kilometer vertical takeoff and landing flight test. On January 19, 2025, the Longxing-2 test rocket conducted China’s first 75-kilometer vertical takeoff and landing flight test, aiming to achieve sea splashdown recovery. The next goal for both types of rockets is to achieve orbital insertion and recovery.
Orbital-level recovery is an extremely challenging technical project, involving high-altitude, high-speed, high-precision, and long-range target practice. Taking the recovery of the Falcon 9 low Earth orbit (LEO) launch mission as an example, the horizontal distance between the recovery ship and the launch pad is 300 kilometers. After the first and second stages separate, the first stage falls at an altitude of over 100 kilometers and a speed of approximately 2,000 meters per second (the Chinese high-speed speed limit is approximately 33 meters per second). Four minutes after the start of descent, the first stage needs to land quickly and precisely on the deck of the recovery ship, which is only a few tens of meters wide, with the landing deviation controlled within 10 meters, equivalent to the precision of threading a needle 100 meters long.
To achieve rocket recovery, the rocket engine needs to have multiple ignition capabilities (three ignitions are required for recovery in the flight area, including takeoff ignition), deep thrust variation capabilities (adjustment range greater than 50%–100%), and precise thrust adjustment capabilities (control accuracy reaching 0.5% of rated thrust). Only in this way can a large velocity reduction (from approximately 2000 m/s to 1 m/s) be completed quickly and accurately. Simultaneously, to achieve high-precision target acquisition, the first stage needs to be equipped with a high-level guidance, navigation, and control system (GNC), including: guidance section: flight control computer; navigation section: inertial measurement unit (gyroscope, accelerometer); control section: attitude control system, grid fins, ultimately controlling the rocket’s first stage to precisely adjust its attitude and land smoothly according to the designed flight trajectory.
It is expected that the Long March 12A will conduct its maiden flight into orbit and recover its first stage in December 2025. As a reusable methane rocket that will also make its maiden flight at the same time, the Zhuque-3 will become one of the earliest rockets in China to achieve orbital stage recovery. If successful, it is expected to become China’s first rocket to achieve orbital recovery, which will be a landmark event in the history of China’s launch vehicle development, signifying that China’s launch vehicles have begun to leap from single-use to reusable.
The distance between a successful maiden flight and achieving full capability is more than “one kilometer”.
The “Zhuque-3” rocket’s maiden flight was conducted on the basic model. Compared to the improved version, the basic model has a smaller takeoff mass, lower altitude, and smaller payload capacity. The basic model has a total height of 66.1 meters, a takeoff mass of approximately 570 tons, a takeoff thrust of approximately 770 tons, a low Earth orbit (LEO) payload capacity of 11.8 tons in non-recoverable state, a payload coefficient of 2.1%, and a LEO payload capacity of 8 tons upon recovery. In recoverable state, the basic “Zhuque-3” rocket’s payload capacity is only equivalent to that of the “Long March 8,” while in non-recoverable state, its payload capacity is only equivalent to that of the “Long March 8A” and “Long March 12.”
It is evident that the “Zhuque-3” basic model is only a transitional version of this series of rockets, with the main goal of achieving continuous and stable orbital launch and recovery and reuse capabilities. Referring to the development path of “Zhuque-2”, the “Zhuque-3” basic model will also only be produced in small batches initially, with improvements made as it is developed. It will undergo at least one major iteration, replacing the “Tianque-12A” and “Tianque-15A” main engines of the first and second stages with the more powerful “Tianque-12B” and “Tianque-15B” respectively, ultimately achieving the target near-Earth payload capacity of 21.3 tons.
The transition from the basic to the improved version of the “Zhuque-3” rocket will be a lengthy process. During this period, “Zhuque-3” will be unable to provide “large transport capacity” or implement “high-frequency, low-cost” launches. Even after the improved version is launched, the process of building this capability—from initial success to consecutive successes, and then to achieving high-frequency launches—will be gradual and time-consuming. Therefore, even if “Zhuque-3” successfully completes its maiden flight, it will still be a long way from providing the “large transport capacity, high-frequency, low-cost” launch services that the market expects, requiring a scientific and rational understanding.
Conclusion
After years of technological accumulation, China’s reusable launch vehicles are entering the orbital flight test phase. Multiple rocket types are planned for their maiden orbital flights between 2025 and 2026, with several models, including “Nebula-1A” and “Zhishenxing-1,” attempting orbital-level recovery. “Zhuque-3” is one such representative. For reusable rockets, the first priority is a successful launch, followed by continuous and stable successful launches, and only then successful recovery and reuse, and continuous and stable recovery and reuse. Therefore, the primary objective of the “Zhuque-3” maiden flight mission is also successful orbital insertion, while also considering orbital recovery. Successful orbital insertion constitutes a mission success; while recovery is expected, it shouldn’t be overly demanding, as there is no precedent in the world for achieving success in one step. Finally, we hope that “Zhuque-3” will successfully launch and return safely.
Images and visuals are from their Respectives.
