Reusable rocket milestone opens a door for Hong Kong’s space ambitions
On the morning of August 19, LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket lifted off from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Area. After deploying its second stage and payload into orbit, the rocket’s first stage touched down softly at a recovery site in Gansu province using deployable landing legs. It was China’s first successful land-based recovery of an orbital-class rocket booster that had just…
On August 19, the Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket of LandSpace launched from Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Area. After deploying its second stage and payload, the first stage returned to Earth and landed softly in Gansu province, marking China's first successful land-based recovery of an orbital-class rocket booster. This was the first time China had managed this feat without using a sea-based system, following a similar recovery of a Long March-10B rocket's first stage in July.
The Zhuque-3 rocket, designed to be reusable at least 20 times, stands 66 meters tall and uses methane-liquid oxygen engines. Despite the narrowing technology gap between China and SpaceX, China's commercial launch prices still lag behind those of SpaceX's Falcon 9. Hong Kong stands to gain from this milestone in three ways: as a launchpad for China's space unicorns, a hub for academic research to commercial applications, and a regional center for high-value downstream services in the space industry.
Written by urgent.news from South China Morning Post's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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