The test of China’s first reusable rocket Zhuque-3 partially failed. The Landspace rocket’s booster crashed during landing, although its upper part successfully reached orbit. This is a blow to China’s ambitions.
Beijing: China’s hopes of matching America in the field of reusable space rockets have suffered a major setback. The test of Zhuque-3, the first reusable rocket in China’s history, failed. According to Chinese time, the second part (upper stage) of the Zhuque-3 rocket, which took off from the Jiuquan Space Launch Center on Wednesday afternoon, successfully reached space, but the landing of its booster (first stage) failed during the return. According to the report of Chinese Morning Post, the booster part of the rocket turned into a fireball and crashed near the landing site. The Zhuque-3 rocket belongs to Landspace, a private commercial space company based in Beijing.
Chinese booster missed landing
Landspace’s Zhuque-3 rocket is 216 feet i.e. 66 meters high. Landspace is designing this rocket as a reusable booster. The second part of the rocket successfully reached orbit, but there was a glitch in the re-entry of the first stage booster. One of the booster’s engines failed during re-entry. During the landing burn, part of the booster caught fire and it burst into a ball of fire with a loud noise. The booster part of Zhuque-3 met with an accident near the recovery zone designated for landing. According to the report, no one was injured in this accident. Landspace said on social media that they will investigate the malfunction in the booster.
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Rocket company made many claims
Landspace has claimed that even though the booster failed to recover, the rocket launch was successful. This claim of the company comes after the payload was placed in orbit in the very first test of the rocket. Landspace also claimed on social media that the rocket has achieved its set technical goals. The Chinese company’s Zhuque-3 rocket is similar to SpaceX’s trusted Falcon 9 rocket. Both rockets have a reusable first stage (booster) and a reusable upper stage. The fuel of the Zhuque-3 rocket is a mixture of liquid methane and liquid oxygen. The payload capacity of Zhuque-3 is also claimed to be almost equal to that of the Falcon 9 rocket. The Zhuque-3 rocket can carry 18,300 kg to low Earth orbit (LEO). At the same time, Falcon 9 can deliver 22,800 kg weight to LEO.
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