LandSpace ZQ 3 Y1 rocket reaches orbit on first reusable flight attempt

by Riko Seibo
Tokyo, Japan (SPX) Dec 03, 2025

LandSpace, a private Chinese rocket company, has flown its ZQ 3, or Rosefinch 3, carrier rocket for the first time, marking China's initial orbital mission using a reusable rocket architecture, although recovery of the first-stage booster was not successful.

The ZQ 3 Y1 vehicle, built mainly from stainless steel, lifted off at noon from a dedicated launch service tower at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Inner Mongolia autonomous region, with the Y1 designation indicating the first unit in the ZQ 3 series.

During the flight, the rocket's second stage reached its planned orbit carrying a mass simulator, while the first-stage booster re-entered the atmosphere and broke up in a fireball over a designated recovery zone near Minqin county in Gansu province, around 390 kilometers from the launch site.

LandSpace reported that ZQ 3 Y1 is 66.1 meters tall with a diameter of 4.5 meters and a fully fueled mass of about 570 metric tons, and the rocket produces more than 750 tons of thrust at liftoff, giving it the capacity to deploy heavy satellites into low Earth orbit and sun-synchronous orbits.

The rocket uses LandSpace methane engines, with nine TQ-12A engines on the first stage providing the main ascent thrust and a single TQ-15A engine on the second stage, and the company notes that methane engines can be reused and reduce environmental impact compared with traditional expendable engines.

Propellant tanks on ZQ 3 are made from stainless steel to provide strength, thermal and corrosion resistance, and cost control, and the first stage is equipped with four grid fins and four landing legs designed to guide and support a controlled, soft landing during future recovery attempts.

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