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LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 Y2 achieves China’s first recovered orbital booster

The mission marked China’s first land-based recovery of an orbital-class rocket booster and is designed for at least 20 first-stage reuses.

Reported · Written up by our desk · Emerging Markets

SCMP Economy reports that LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 Y2 rocket lifted off on August 19 from the Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Test Area, deploying its second stage and payload into orbit before completing a soft landing of its first stage at a recovery site in Gansu province using deployable landing legs.

The outlet said the touchdown represents China’s first successful land-based recovery of an orbital-class rocket booster that had just flown an orbital mission, a milestone previously demonstrated by SpaceX.

SCMP Economy also compared reusable-launch economics, noting that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has driven launch prices down to about US$2,700 per kg, about 85.0% lower than the pre-reusable average of US$18,500 per kg.

By contrast, the article said China’s commercial launch prices typically run between US$8,000 and US$14,000 per kg, and that the Zhuque-3, at 66 meters tall with an estimated lift-off mass of roughly 570 tonnes, is designed to close that gap, including via a first stage planned for reuse at least 20 times.

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