China’s LandSpace Sets Its Sights on SpaceX as It Pushes Reusable Rockets and IPO Plans

LandSpace, a Beijing-based private rocket company, has made no effort to hide its admiration for SpaceX. Earlier this month, it became the first Chinese entity to test a reusable rocket, marking a milestone for China’s commercial space sector even though the test ended unsuccessfully. The attempt alone signaled a shift in how Chinese firms approach innovation, failure and rapid iteration—principles long associated with Elon Musk’s space ventures.

The company’s Zhuque-3 rocket failed to complete its planned landing burn during a December test flight, crashing roughly three kilometers above the ground. Despite the setback, LandSpace’s leadership has framed the outcome as part of a necessary learning curve. Chief designer Dai Zheng has publicly praised SpaceX’s willingness to push designs to failure in order to refine them quickly, describing that philosophy as a key reason he left a major state-owned rocket developer to join LandSpace in 2016.

LandSpace’s long-term goal is to provide China with a low-cost, reusable launch vehicle comparable to SpaceX’s Falcon 9. Such capability is central to Beijing’s ambitions to deploy massive satellite constellations—potentially numbering more than 10,000 spacecraft—in the coming decades. According to Zhuque-3’s deputy chief designer Dong Kai, the company views Falcon 9 as a proven engineering solution worth studying, arguing that learning from successful designs should not be mistaken for simple imitation.

This mindset is already influencing China’s broader space ecosystem. For decades, failed launches were rarely acknowledged publicly, particularly within state-owned enterprises. That culture appears to be shifting. State media recently reported on failed reusable rocket recovery attempts by both LandSpace and a state-backed firm, suggesting growing acceptance that visible setbacks are part of technological progress.

LandSpace has also taken uncommon steps toward transparency, opening its engine factory to foreign media for the first time. The move coincides with Beijing’s renewed push to support leading private space companies through capital markets. After opening the space sector to private investment in 2014, Chinese regulators are now easing pathways for commercial space firms to pursue initial public offerings, giving companies like LandSpace access to the funding needed for capital-intensive testing.

Funding remains a major constraint. Dai has openly acknowledged that SpaceX’s deep financial backing allowed it to absorb years of losses while developing Starship. LandSpace, by contrast, does not yet have the resources to sustain prolonged trial-and-error cycles without external capital, making an IPO increasingly important to its future.

Elon Musk himself has taken notice. Ahead of Zhuque-3’s first launch, Musk commented that the rocket blends elements of Starship—such as stainless steel construction and methane-based engines—with a Falcon 9-style architecture. While he suggested such a design could outperform Falcon 9, he was quick to add that Starship operates “in another league.”

As LandSpace prepares for another Zhuque-3 launch following its December failure, the company can point to SpaceX’s own history for reassurance. Falcon 9 did not achieve a successful booster landing until 2015, after multiple failed attempts. For LandSpace, the path forward may be long, but its progress is already redefining what China’s commercial space industry is willing to attempt—and what it is willing to risk.