China's LandSpace readies satellite launch with methane rocket

Weibo

04/12/2023 11:19

BEIJING, Dec 4 (Reuters) - Beijing-based LandSpace
Technology, one of China's private space companies, is preparing
to launch a satellite payload to orbit in the first commercial
test of its rocket powered by liquid fuel using methane and
oxygen.
    Investors and rocket developers have said methane could
offer a way to help slash costs and support reusable rockets.
    LandSpace's Zhuque-2 Y-3 carrier rocket was transferred to
the launch area of a space facility in the Gobi Desert on Friday
and is readying for launch, the company said on its Weibo social
media account.
    The company did not specify a launch window for the rocket,
which will blast off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in
Inner Mongolia. 
    LandSpace did not immediately respond to a request for more
details.
    Chinese commercial space firms have rushed into the sector
since 2014, when the government allowed private investment in an
industry now dominated by Elon Musk's SpaceX. 
    LandSpace was one of the earliest and best funded of the
Chinese space startups aiming to tap into the demand for rocket
launches amid growing competition to form clusters of low-orbit
satellites as an alternative to Musk's Starlink.
    In July, LandSpace hit a benchmark in that race with the
launch of the world's first methane-liquid oxygen rocket, the
Zhuque-2 Y-2, putting China ahead of U.S. rivals including
SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin.
    Founded in 2015, LandSpace has secured funding from
investors including venture capital firm HongShan, known at that
time as Sequoia Capital China, the investment arm of Chinese
property developer Country Garden and the state-backed China SME
Development Fund.
    LandSpace's latest announced fundraising was in 2020 when it
raised 1.2 billion yuan ($168.14 million). The company had
fundraising rounds of undisclosed sizes since, Chinese company
record tracking database Tianyancha showed.
    In July, LandSpace founder and CEO Zhang Changwu told
Chinese publication Yicai the company had started developing
reusable rockets and expected to conduct a test launch in the
second half of 2025.
    LandSpace rival OrienSpace, founded in 2020, said it plans
to launch its first rocket, Gravity-1, based on solid fuel, in
December.
    ($1 = 7.1368 Chinese yuan renminbi)

 (Reporting by Ella Cao, Roxanne Liu and Bernard Orr; Editing by
Kevin Krolicki and Miral Fahmy)
 ((bernard.orr@thomsonreuters.com))