LandSpace Experiences in-Flight Failure [Zhuque-2E]
Today's failure could set back the debut of the company's next rocket.
LandSpace’s Zhuque-2E rocket departed from Launch Area 96A at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on August 15th at 09:17 am China Standard Time (01:17 am Universal Coordinated Time) heading for low Earth orbit. Sadly, the rocket did not reach its intended orbit.
Based on video of the launch mission, Zhuque-2E’s four TQ-12A engines ignited to carry the launch vehicle skyward, doing so until main engine cutoff and first-stage separation to begin second-stage flight. Second-stage flight is believed to have begun well, before issues began to manifest (said to come from electrical systems1), eventually leading to a loss of the vehicle and its payloads.
Failure of Zhuque-2E today was the second for LandSpace’s Zhuque-2 series overall, after a failure in December 2022 during its debut flight. That flight failed due to excessive forces with the TQ-12 second-stage engine and its TQ-11 vernier thrusters, both replaced for Zhuque-2E.
It is unknown what satellites were onboard Zhuque-2E for this mission, as LandSpace did not share that information. It is rumored that four satellites GuoWang mega-constellation were onboard, for the constellation’s first trip to orbit via China’s private space sector. But I must stress that it is a rumor and unconfirmed.
With a failure during second-stage flight, various Zhuque-2E second-stages and their engines, the TQ-15A, will be inspected for defects and possibly shipped back to production facilities for fixes. If the failure was TQ-15A-related, the debut flight of the two-stage partially reusable Zhuque-3 may be delayed due to its use of that engine as well.
This year, it was hoped that four more Zhuque-2E’s could fly, as in February, LandSpace said they were hoping to fly the vehicle six times in 2025. Hardware for those flights has been flowing from the company’s production facilities to Jiuquan.
Today’s mission was the 3rd flight of Zhuque-2E, and the 6th flight of LandSpace’s Zhuque-2 series. This was also the 46th launch from China in 2025.
Liftoff video via Cosmic Penguin on Bluesky.
Preflight teaser via LandSpace.
Check out the previous Zhuque-2E launch
LandSpace Nails Second Zhuque-2E Flight! [Zhuque-2E Y2]
![LandSpace Nails Second Zhuque-2E Flight! [Zhuque-2E Y2]](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!i4cc!,w_1300,h_650,c_fill,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep,g_auto/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F22eb6a12-9c03-477a-ba08-bfe42323115a_3417x1748.jpeg)
Blasting off from Launch Area 96A at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, LandSpace’s Zhuque-2E flew to sun-synchronous orbit at 12:12 pm China Standard Time (04:12 am Universal Coordinated Time) on May 17th, following a scrub two days earlier. For this flight, six satellites were onboard.
What is Zhuque-2E?
This section is for those less familiar with China's various commercial launch vehicles.
Zhuque-2E is LandSpace’s privately-developed commercial launch vehicle, and is largely based on the company’s Zhuque-2 vehicle. The vehicle consists of two stages both burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen.
The payload capacity of the launch vehicle is currently as follows:
6,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit
4,000 kilograms to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit
Four TQ-12A engines power the first stage to generate over 293 tons of thrust while burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen. The second-stage is powered by a single TQ-15A engine, also burning liquid methane and liquid oxygen, to generate 85 tons of thrust.
On the launch pad, Zhuque-2E is over 47.3 meters tall and weighs over 219,000 kilograms when fully fuelled. The first-stage and second-stage, have a diameter of 3.35 meters, while the fairing has a diameter of 4.2 meters.
I have had multiple sources I consider to be trustworthy tell me of highly similar causes.