China's LandSpace gears up to take on Elon Musk and SpaceX

HUZHOU: China's rocket startup LandSpace has made no secret about drawing inspiration from Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Earlier this month, the Beijing-based firm became the first Chinese entity to conduct a reusable rocket test.

That put SpaceX on alert and LandSpace is now preparing to go public to fund its future projects, just as its bigger and far more successful US rival considers an initial public offering of its own.

Even though LandSpace's Zhuque-3 rocket test ended in failure, its aspiration to become second only to SpaceX in reusable rockets is providing a fresh impetus to China's space industry, which has long been dominated by risk-averse, state-owned entities.

"[SpaceX] can push products to the edge and even into failure, quickly identifying limits and iterating," Zhuque-3 chief designer Dai Zheng told state broadcaster CCTV after the rocket's inaugural flight.

Dai said his decision in 2016 to join LandSpace and leave the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the country's main state-owned rocket developer, was partly motivated by SpaceX's focus on reusability and his desire to create a Chinese equivalent.

LandSpace's focus on giving China its own low-cost launch option similar to SpaceX's flight-proven reusable rocket Falcon 9 will play a key role in Beijing's plans to build up 10,000 satellite constellations in the coming decades.

"Falcon 9 is a successful configuration that has been tested by engineering," Zhuque-3's deputy chief designer Dong Kai said in a podcast interview last week. "After studying it, we recognize its rationality; this is learning, not imitation."

"Calling (Zhuque-3) a 'Chinese Falcon 9,' I think, is a very high compliment."

Its startup culture and mimicking of SpaceX has already initiated a paradigm shift in China's space industry.

China's state-led space programme has historically been allergic to failed launches, in contrast to SpaceX and other Western firms that regularly broadcast their mishaps.

But earlier this month, state media covered China's first two failed attempts at recovering a reusable rocket, with the second launch coming from a state-owned firm, just three weeks after Zhuque-3's maiden flight.

LandSpace also opened its engine factory floor to Reuters this month, allowing foreign media to take a peek at one of its core assets for the first time.

After opening up the space sector to private money in 2014, which spawned several startups including LandSpace, Beijing is now looking to help leading domestic players tap into capital markets by making it easier for them to pursue IPOs.

Dai said SpaceX's generous financial backing was a key factor in allowing the U.S. firm to incur huge losses while testing Starship, its reusable launch vehicle.

"For us, we're not yet able to do that," Dai told CCTV.

"I believe our country has recognised this, allowing capital markets to support companies (in areas) like commercial space flight."

Comparison with Starship

A month before LandSpace launched the Zhuque-3, SpaceX founder Musk had already taken note of the vehicle's design.

Commenting on a video on X that showed Zhuque-3's assembly, he said the Chinese-made rocket had adopted aspects of the Starship spacecraft and applied them on a design similar to the Falcon 9.

"They have added aspects of Starship, such as use of stainless steel and methalox, to a Falcon 9 architecture, which would enable it to beat Falcon 9," Musk said in October, in his first public comments about LandSpace.

"But Starship in another league."

Features like stainless steel sheaths and rocket engines powered by methalox, a combination of methane and liquid oxygen, are just some of the ways that companies like SpaceX and LandSpace are looking to reduce the enormous cost of launches.

But by far the most important cost-saver is the ability to launch a rocket, then return, recover and reuse its engine-packed first stage.

As LandSpace prepares another rocket launch after the December failure, when Zhuque-3's booster was not able to activate a landing burn 3km from the ground as planned, causing it to crash rather than execute a controlled landing, it may take comfort from SpaceX's experience.

SpaceX had its first successful Falcon booster landing in 2015 after two failed attempts.