Space Pioneer's First Tianlong-3 Rumoured to Launch No Earlier Than March 30th
Customer payloads may be onboard the launch vehicle's first flight, coming after months of waiting.
Having been reportedly ready for flight since late January, Space Pioneer’s partially reusable two-stage Tianlong-3 launch vehicle1 may be finally ready to fly for the first time, according to notices filed and rumours circulating.
Starting in mid-March, Notices to Airmen filings2 had began to be published, aligning with a near-polar launch out of the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center that would have taken place on March 20th. The identity of what vehicle those notices belonged to was unknown, and they came to pass with no launch taking place on that day and a rumoured scrubbed attempt3.
Then new notices appeared on March 26th, aligning with the previous ones, for a launch around midday China Standard Time on March 30th. Those notices were accompanied by rumours, from individuals who have been reliable about prior spaceflight activity, that Space Pioneer is preparing for a debut flight4. Imagery from Europe’s Copernicus Earth observation satellites also shows activity around Tianlong-3’s launch pad, starting on March 20th.
Space Pioneer is yet to comment on Tianlong-3’s first launch campaign, and the last time they did it was indirectly in November 2025.
As for whether a payload will be atop Tianlong-3 for its first flight, that is unknown, but some clues point towards the Shanghai-backed Qianfan (千帆) space-based connectivity mega-constellation. Most obviously, the notices filed align with previous orbital launches for the mega-constellation, with the six previous groups being placed into near-polar orbit inclination. Space Pioneer has a contract to prove their ability to launch Qianfan satellites in early 2026 too. As part of that, the company has been testing a 36-satellite deployment mechanism, choosing to focus its external communications on that over their launch vehicle.
It’s also unclear if the first launch of Tianlong-3 will be trailing any reusable hardware, like grid fins or landing legs, in a real flight environment. No downrange landing site linked to Space Pioneer has been constructed currently. This flight will therefore expend the first-stage.
Space Pioneer’s path to having the first Tianlong-3 launch vehicle ready to fly is a long and unintentionally delayed one. Back in June 2024, a first-stage booster broke free from a test stand during a static fire due to it producing more thrust than could be handled. That test stand was in a renovated quarry with the booster falling harmlessly on a nearby hillside.
It took the company over a year to rebuild progress towards flight, hardware and legal-wise. A successful static fire of the first-stage took place on a floating platform near Haiyang (海阳市), in Shandong (山东) province, in September 2025. Two months later, the first flight Tianlong-3 launch vehicle was shipped to Jiuquan, where it has been waiting since, occasionally rolling out to its launch pad for testing.
Space Pioneer currently claims that Tianlong-3 will be able to deliver:
22,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit when expended.
17,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit with first-stage reuse.
17,000 kilograms to sun-synchronous orbit when expended.
14,000 kilograms to sun-synchronus orbit with first-stage reuse
Warning aircraft to stay away from an area due to the hazards posed by descending rocket stages. Additional notices will be handed out to those living within or near those areas, advising them to leave for several hours or days.
Possibly coming as late as engine ignition.
Only Tianlong-3 is under serious development at Space Pioneer.