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 Y2 carrier rocket, developed by LandSpace, is a large, reusable liquid oxygen and methane rocket made of stainless steel. Originally scheduled for launch on the morning of August 11, 2026, from the Jiuquan Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Zone, its core mission is to insert the payload into orbit and attempt a vertical soft landing and recovery of its first stage on land. If successful, it will become China’s first privately developed liquid rocket to achieve orbital-stage, first-stage, land-based recovery.
The launch
was originally scheduled for August 11th, from 7:37 AM to 8:14 AM. However, the night before launch (around 8 PM on August 10th), the Long March 7A carrier rocket experienced a flight anomaly and mission failure during the launch of the Zhongxing-4B satellite from Wenchang. In accordance with China’s aerospace industry’s “learning from experience and applying it to other situations” quality management system, a risk assessment was required across the entire industry. The Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket was therefore postponed. Thunderstorms at the first-stage landing site (Minqin, Gansu) were also a contributing factor. Currently, the rocket remains standing at the launch pad, not yet moved back to the factory, and is in a standby state.
The latest launch window
is August 13, 2026, and LandSpace has not yet officially announced a new exact launch date. Multiple industry sources point to August 19 (Chinese Valentine’s Day) or August 31 as potential launch windows, but these are not official announcements. The exact time will depend on LandSpace’s official announcement and airspace control notices.
Mission Background and Highlights:
The Zhuque-3 Y1 rocket successfully entered orbit in December 2025, but failed to achieve a soft landing due to abnormal combustion at an altitude of approximately 4,000 meters during the recovery phase. The Y2 rocket addressed this issue by redesigning the technology, focusing on upgrades to thermal protection, flight control algorithms, grid fins, and the engine’s low-altitude restart strategy. The rocket is 76.6 meters long, has a liftoff thrust of approximately 900 tons, a low-Earth orbit payload capacity exceeding 20 tons, and its first stage is designed for at least 20 reuses. If this recovery is successful, LandSpace plans to attempt its first recoverable and reusable flight in the fourth quarter of 2026, establishing a commercial closed loop of “launch-recovery-re-flight
I. Task Delay and Latest Status
- Original plan : Zhuque-3 Y2 was originally scheduled to launch from 7:37 to 8:14 on August 11, 2026, at the 96B launch site of the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone of Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The first stage was planned to perform a vertical soft landing at the Minqin Land Recovery Site in Gansu, about 390 kilometers away from the launch site.
- Confirmed Postponement : On the morning of August 11, multiple sources confirmed that the launch mission had been postponed. The rocket remains at the launch pad and has not yet been moved back to the factory; it is in a standby state.
- Speculation on the new window : The official date has not yet been announced. Industry media and enthusiasts speculate that the window may point to August 19th or August 31st, but these are not official confirmations. The final date will depend on official announcements from LandSpace and airspace control notices.
II. Core Mission Objective: To achieve “orbit insertion + primary stage recovery”
- Verifying First-Stage Recovery : The core highlight of this mission is not orbital insertion, but the vertical recovery test of the first stage. If the recovery is successful, Zhuque-3 will become the first liquid rocket in China to achieve land recovery of the orbital-level first stage using landing legs, and LandSpace will become the first private company to successfully complete the entire chain of “launch-to-orbit + first-stage recovery”.4
- Lessons Learned and Improvements from the First Long-Range Rocket Launch: The first long-range rocket made its maiden flight in December 2025, successfully entering orbit. Its first stage completed the entire process from reentry and deceleration to attitude adjustment and final powered descent, landing only 40 meters from the target. However, a delayed engine ignition sequence caused the tail section to burn, preventing it from landing properly. The second long-range rocket…
III. Direct Reason for the Delay: The Failure of the Long March 7A amphibious assault triggered an industry-wide investigation.
- Industry shaken : On the evening of August 10, the Long March 7A carrier rocket experienced an anomaly during the launch of the Zhongxing-4B satellite from Wenchang, resulting in mission failure.@ZhejiangOnline2758
- A mechanism for learning from one incident and applying it to others : According to China’s aerospace quality management regulations, any rocket malfunction must trigger a comprehensive investigation. The Zhuque-3 rocket, for example, needs to complete checks on flight control logic and anomaly handling.
IMAGES AND VISUALS ARE FROM THEIR RESPECTIVES.
