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

Trying to compete with SpaceX, China's LandSpace was the first in the country to test a reusable rocket, which is key to China's satellite constellation plan, writes Eduardo Baptista from Huzhou

- Eduardo Baptista

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

Last 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.

Mr 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.