China’s LandSpace gears up to take on Elon Musk and SpaceX
HUZHOU, Dec 29 (Reuters) – China’s rocket startup LandSpace has made no secret that it was inspired by Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
Earlier this month, the Beijing-based firm became the first Chinese entity to test a reusable rocket. This has alarmed SpaceX, and LandSpace is now preparing to go public to fund future projects, just as its larger and much more successful US rival is considering an initial public offering of its own.
Although LandSpace’s Zhuque-3 rocket test ended in failure, its desire to be second to SpaceX in reusable rockets is giving new impetus to China’s space industry, which has long been dominated by risk-averse state-owned enterprises.
“By quickly setting and iterating limits, (SpaceX) can push products to extremes and even failure,” Zhuque-3 chief designer Dai Zheng told state broadcaster CCTV after the rocket’s first flight.
Dai said the decision to join LandSpace in 2016 and leave the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the country’s main state-owned rocket developer, was driven in part by SpaceX’s focus on reusability and a desire to create an equivalent in China.
LandSpace’s focus on offering 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 a 10,000 satellite constellation in the coming decades.
“Falcon 9 is a successful engineering-tested configuration,” Dong Kai, deputy chief designer of Zhuque-3, said in a podcast interview last week. “After studying it, we understand its rationality; this is not imitation, but learning.”
“I think calling (Zhuque-3) the ‘Chinese Falcon 9’ is a huge compliment.”
Startup culture and its imitation of SpaceX has already initiated a paradigm shift in China’s space industry.
China’s state-led space program has historically been allergic to failed launches, unlike SpaceX and other Western firms that regularly broadcast their crashes.
But earlier this month, state media covered China’s first two failed attempts to salvage a reusable rocket; The second launch came from a state-owned firm just three weeks after the first flight of Zhuque-3.
LandSpace also opened the grounds of its engine factory to Reuters this month, allowing foreign media to take a look at one of its key assets for the first time.
After opening up the space sector to private capital in 2014 and the emergence of several startups including LandSpace, Beijing now aims to help leading domestic players tap into capital markets by making it easier for them to conduct IPOs.
