Spacex has always been 10 years ahead of the competition. The problem is that in China that law no longer applies

The Falcon 9 rocket has turned 15 this week. In December they will do 10 years of their first landing. It was reused for eight for the first time. More than 400 reusations later, Spacex still has no competition. But the competition will not arrive staggered, it will arrive suddenly and will do so from China.

China’s buoyant space industry is living an authentic effervescence in the development of reusable rockets. Operations? Even none, but far from being projects on paper, there are already several companies that have successfully completed vertical take -off and landing tests with prototypes that mix technologies inspired by Falcon 9 with more modern ones, anticipating Starship service entry.

These advances, which remind the first days of the Grasshopper and Starhopper Spacex prototypes, are not only aimed at deploying mega-constellations of Chinese satellites, but also to compete in the global release market.

• Space Epoch: This relatively young company (founded in 2019), hit the table on May 28, 2025. Its VTVL Yuanxingzhe 1 (YXZ-1) prototype, 4.2 meters in diameter and made of stainless steel, made a leap of 2.5 kilometers high, threatening controlled in the sea. According to Eureka, it was the first Chinese VTVL prototype to perform controlled amelizage: it did not have a landing train and was designed to perch and sink slowly, a strategy that Space Epoch plans for the recovery of the first stage of its orbital rocket Yuanxingzhe 1. Once operational, this rocket intends to place more than 10 tons in low orbit. The prototype is propelled by a longyun Ly-70 engine of methane and liquid oxygen.
• LandSpace: One of the most advanced private ones, Landspace is developing the Zhuque-3, a two-stages of methane and liquid oxygen built in stainless steel, with a height of 76.6 meters, comparable to Falcon 9. Its VTVL prototype made an impressive jump of 10 kilometers of altitude in September 2024 (Eureka mentions a second jump of the ZQ-3 VTVL-1 at this point on September 11, while other sources point at the end of August for a similar milestone). This flight included the first realer in flight of an engine during the descent in China, landing successfully. Landspace aspires to a first orbital launch of Zhuque-3 in 2025, with recovery of the first stage by 2026.
• iSpace: Another private pioneer, Ispace, is working on its reusable Hyperbola-3 rocket. To do this, his Hyperbola-2y (SQX-2Y) test vehicle completed several VTVL jumps at the end of 2023: one of 178 meters in November and another of 343 meters in December, both with successful landings. These trials were crucial to validate the technology of their Metallox engines and guidance systems. ISPACE plans the first flight of Hyperbola-3 by 2025 and the recovery of its first stage in 2026.
• Deep Blue Aerospace: This Nanjing-based company develops the Nebula-1 (Xingyun-1), a fluid oxygen rocket and oxygen. Already in May 2022, its demonstrator VTVL completed a 1 kilometer jump with successful landing. In September 2024, a major prototype tried a higher altitude (between 5 and 10 km), but suffered a hard landing due to a problem with thrust control, although the company considered that many targets of the trial were met. Deep Blue Aerospace also has the Nebula-2 in its plans, a Heavy Class-class launcher 9.
• SAST (Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology): This state entity, part of CASC (China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation), is leading government effort in reusable rockets. Its VTVL prototype, sometimes called Longxing 1 and associated with the future CZ-12A or CZ-12R (a reusable version of the CZ-12), has also made remarkable jumps. On June 23, 2024, this prototype, propelled by three Longyun Ly-70 engines (the same as Space Epoch), reached 12 kilometers of altitude on a test flight from Jiuquan. Subsequently, on January 19, 2025, a second prototype tried an even more ambitious leap of 75 kilometers from Haiyang, but was lost during the flight.
• Galactic Energy: Known for its CERES-1 rocket, Galactic Energy is developing pallas-1, a fluid oxygen rocket and oxygen with a first reusable stage. Although he has not yet made a VTVL jump with a full rocket prototype, in August 2023 he carried out a vertical landing test using a test vehicle proceeded by reaction engines (nicknamed “Firebird”) to validate the control algorithms. They expect the first orbital launch of Pallas-1 (in disposable mode) between the late 2025 and early 2026.
• LinkSpace: It was the first Chinese private company to focus on reusable rockets. Already in August 2019, its RLV-T5 prototype made a 300-meter leap with successful landing, a pioneering milestone for Chinese startups. Although its subsequent progress has been slower compared to its competitors, its initial role was fundamental.
• Space Pioneer: This company is developing the Tianlong-3, a Falcon 9 class launcher designed from the beginning for reuse. Although it has not yet carried out a VTVL test, the company has advanced in the construction and proof of the Tianhuo-12 engines and the first stage of the rocket. Its first orbital launch is expected between 2024 and 2025 (without attempted recovery on the first flight), closely followed by VTVL landing tests.

Vertical landings ‘Made in China’

The list does not end there, which draws a trend: China not only wants to match Spacex’s reuse capacity, but is cultivating a robust ecosystem to compete directly with Elon Musk’s company. The objectives: reduce the launch costs, increase the cadence for the deployment of new mega-constellations (such as Guowang, the Chinese response to Starlink) and, ultimately, cut distances with the company that is launching 80% of the total mass that is put into orbit.

So, although Spacex remains the indisputable reference in the reuse of orbital rockets, the question is no longer whether it will have a serious rival in China, but which of this growing legion of contenders, in addition to the CASC itself, will be the first to consistently replicate the feat of landing and reuse orbital rockets as something routine. The race is in full swing, and landing platforms on land and sea will witness.

Imagen | Space Epoch

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