Zhuque-3


Zhuque-3 is an active, two-stage, medium-to-heavy partially recoverable launch vehicle made of stainless steel and powered by liquid methane fuel. It is the third in a series of orbital-class launch vehicles developed by LandSpace Technology Corporation, a Chinese commercial space launch provider based in Beijing.
The maiden flight of Zhuque-3 occurred on 3 December 2025. Although Landspace's attempt to achieve first-stage recovery during the rocket's maiden flight proved to be unsuccessful, the company nevertheless hopes to progress towards the milestone of first-stage reusability in the future.

Design

The eventual Zhuque-3E will be equipped with nine Tianque-12B engines, five of which can gimbal and four which cannot, the first stage is designed to be recoverable and reusable for up to twenty launches. The 2nd stage will use a TQ-15B engine. The rocket will be 76.2 meters in length, 4.5 meters in diameter, and have a liftoff weight of approximately 660 tonnes. Its planned payload capacity to low Earth orbit is about 21 tonnes in expendable mode, 18.3 tonnes when the first stage is recovered downrange, and 12.5 tonnes when the first stage returns to the launch site.
Zhuque-3, the initial version of the rocket which was used on the rocket's first flight, is less powerful in performance and specifications than the mature version of the launch vehicle, the Zhuque-3E. The Zhuque-3 is about 66 meters in length with a mass of about 550 tonnes. It uses slightly lower thrust engines on each stage, the TQ-12A and TQ-15A.

Development History

On 19 January 2024, Landspace conducted a successful vertical takeoff and vertical landing test using the Zhuque-3 VTVL-1 test vehicle at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The test stage, powered by a single Tianque-12 engine, flew for approximately 60 seconds and reached a height of about. Landspace reported a landing accuracy of about and a touchdown speed of approximately. Additionally, the company had previously announced plans to develop a 200-tonne class full-flow staged combustion engine BF-20, which is expected to be ready by 2028 for a future version of Zhuque-3.
On 11 September 2024, the Zhuque-3 VTVL-1 test stage completed another successful vertical-takeoff-vertical-landing test at its Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The test flight lasted about 200 seconds and achieved a maximum height in excess of. The flight also featured a mid-air engine cutoff test at about 113 seconds after liftoff and an engine reignition test about 40 seconds later when the test stage was at a height of about ; this engine cutoff and reignition sequence during a VTVL attempt represented a first for any Chinese rocket manufacturing entities. During the period when its engine was not in active operation, the test stage employed a cold gas attitude control reaction system in addition to four grid fins to control its gliding descent. The test stage completed its landing sequence at a concrete pad located about away from its launch point; the precise landing spot was away from the nominal center of the landing pad.
On 20 June 2025, LandSpace conducted a static fire of a ZhuQue-3 booster test article at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The test was performed on the actual launch pad for ZhuQue-3, similar to how Starship's Super Heavy booster is static fired on the OLM. For this test, the article was filled with propellant, partly to mimic inflight conditions but likely also to prevent an accidental flight. The test article featured nine TQ-12A engines, generating a maximum of 769 tons of thrust during the 45 second static fire. The five engines which can gimbal also performed tests. In an official statement, LandSpace hailed the test as completely successful and instrumental to the success of ZhuQue 3.
From October 18 until October 20, 2025, LandSpace conducted a full-scale propellant-loading rehearsal and first-stage static fire test in preparation for the maiden launch of the Zhuque-3. Next, the company will proceed to conduct vertical-integration rehearsals involving the second-stage and the payload fairing before returning the rocket to relevant test areas for inspection and maintenance.

Maiden launch

The first launch of the base Zhuque-3 occurred on 03 December 2025 at 04:00 UTC. The payload successfully reached orbit, but the first stage booster experienced an anomaly during the final recovery phase and crashed near the planned landing site. In a video, the booster appeared to catch fire while still in the air as the engine were supposed to ignite. According to the Xinhua News Agency, "an abnormal combustion occurred" during the recovery process thereby preventing a soft landing on the recovery site and resulting in the failure of the recovery test.
On 6 December 2025, Landspace announced that despite the unsuccessful attempt to recover the first-stage booster on 3 December 2025, the company nevertheless succeeded in verifying the structural thermal protection system, overall aerodynamic layout design, and attitude control capabilities of the first-stage booster during its "supersonic reentry aerodynamic glide phase". The December 3rd recovery attempt also allowed the company to verify the first-stage's composite attitude control strategy which involves the use of a cold-gas reaction control system combined with the employment of grid-fins. Finally, the booster landing attempt gave Landspace sufficient data to verify the precision of the booster's recovery guidance algorithm during both the "reentry ignition phase" and the reentry glide phase.
Image:静态点火试验中的朱雀三号运载火箭（遥一）.jpg|thumb|right|alt=|Static firing test of the Zhuque-3 in October 2025 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China.

Future Plans

According to China National Radio, Zhuque-3 is expected to launch the new reusable Haolong cargo space shuttle built by the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute, an arm of the Aviation Industry Corporation ; the cargo space shuttle is one of two lower cost resupply vehicles selected by CMSA to provide greater cargo-return capabilities and resupply redundancy for the Tiangong Space Station. The Zhuque-3 is also expected to begin launch missions for China's Guowang broadband communications megaconstellation.

Launches

Launch systems of comparable class and technology