Chinese company LandSpace will launch a satellite using a methane rocket
LandSpace Technology, one of China’s private space companies based in Beijing, is preparing to launch a satellite into orbit as part of a key commercial test of its methane and liquid oxygen rocket.
This was reported by Reuters.
Investors and rocket developers have said that methane can help reduce costs and provide more environmentally friendly and efficient support for reusable rockets.
On Friday, December 1, LandSpace’s Zhuque-2 rocket was transferred to the launch pad of the Gobi Desert space facility and is being prepared for launch, designated Y-3.
The company did not specify the launch time of the rocket, which will be launched from the Jiuquan Cosmodrome in Inner Mongolia.
According to a company spokesperson on Tuesday, LandSpace intends to prove the feasibility of launching Zhuque-2 with three test flights; the first two were Y-1 and Y-2.
If Zhuque-2 is confirmed, LandSpace plans to provide customers with about three launches in 2024 and double that number in 2025.
LandSpace was one of the first and best-funded Chinese space startups to seek to meet the demand for rocket launches amid growing competition to place satellites in low Earth orbit as an alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
LandSpace’s competitor, OrienSpace, founded in 2020, said it plans to launch its first solid-fuel rocket, Gravity-1, in December.
