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<\/p>\nChina kicked off a busy month with three missions for a single internet constellation in the span of nearly four days. Another maiden launch saw the nation\u2019s tallest rocket successfully reach orbit, though the debut raised eyebrows with the absence of airspace notices ahead of the mission. Similarly, its first asteroid-sampling mission appears to have quietly reached a major milestone without official fanfare.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Chinese commercial launch providers continue making progress towards propulsively landing and recovering reusable first stages. Beyond targeting landings on concrete pads and offshore barges, recovery methods range from tensioned steel nets to a more familiar tower-catch approach, with one now considering a horizontal landing dubbed the \u201cbellyflop.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Chang Zheng 12B maiden launch<\/p>\n
On June 1st at 08:40 UTC, a Chang Zheng 12B (CZ-12B) took to the skies for the first time, lofting two Qianfan satellites for SpaceSail\u2019s tenth Polar group in its internet constellation. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Commercial Rocket Company (CACL) designed, built, and flew the rocket in just 20 months \u2014 one of the fastest development cycles for a Chinese launch vehicle. The vehicle can deploy up to 36 satellites into a single orbital plane, with a payload capacity in the 20-tonne class.<\/p>\n
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Chang Zheng 12B is transported to the pad ahead of its maiden launch (Credit: CASC)<\/p>\n
Despite achieving orbit and successfully deploying payloads on its maiden voyage, the mission also drew attention for the lack of transparency in pre-launch notices. The flight took place without the usual hazard warnings, such as Notices to Air Missions (NOTAMs) and other maritime notices, which give advance warning of a launch. These notices are usually publicly visible, and it\u2019s unclear which indications were issued domestically. A Chang Zheng 2D launch also took place without NOTAMs last October, coinciding with a national holiday.<\/p>\n
At 72 m tall, the CZ-12B is currently the tallest of China\u2019s newly developed rockets to launch, beating even the Chang Zheng 5 in its extended fairing configuration. When it eventually flies as a complete vehicle, the super-heavy Chang Zheng 10 will, however, rise above it at 92.5 m.<\/p>\n
The Chang Zheng 9 (CZ-9), broadly analogous to Starship, will eventually dwarf these two vehicles. Planning documents for a factory in Wenchang have fueled speculation about the vehicle\u2019s dimensions. The CZ-9 may even be taller than the proposed Starship v4 in its three-stage configuration, while plans for a cylinder-welding system suggest a 10.6 m-diameter body for the vehicle.<\/p>\n
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Chang Zheng 12B lifts off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on June 1, 2026. (Credit: CASC)<\/p>\n
The two-stage CZ-12B measures 4.37 m in diameter and is powered by nine YF-102R engines on its first stage, burning liquid kerosene and oxygen, with a single vacuum-optimized YF-102R on its upper stage. By contrast, the launcher\u2019s CZ-12A sibling, which made its debut in late December, has a booster powered by seven Longyun-70 engines that burn liquid methane.<\/p>\n
The first stage of the CZ-12B is designed to be reusable. However, the first vehicle flew with mockup landing legs and grid fins and made no recovery attempt, though the second flight is rumored to include recovery testing. Six months ago, its sibling failed to stick an attempted landing when one of the three engines failed to relight for the landing burn. With the ZhuQue-3 also failing its debut landing attempt earlier that same month, the question remains open as to which Chinese orbital vehicle will successfully conduct China\u2019s first propelled landing.<\/p>\n
ZhuQue-3 prepares to fly again<\/p>\n
LandSpace has been preparing to fly its ZhuQue-3 (ZQ-3) for the second time, with the rocket recently arriving at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It will attempt to land its first stage downrange at a landing site in Gansu Province. The vehicle is constructed of stainless steel, with nine Tianque-12A (TQ-12A, \u201cHeavenly Magpie\u201d) engines burning liquid methane and oxygen, producing around 765 tons of thrust.<\/p>\n
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The first ZQ-3 is lifted onto the transporter erector in 2025, ahead of its maiden launch from Jiuquan. (Credit: LandSpace)<\/p>\n
Measuring 66 m in height and 4.5 m in diameter, the initial version of the vehicle is a few meters shorter and almost a meter wider than a Falcon 9 with a similar liftoff mass. An upcoming extended version will add another 10 m to its length. LandSpace conducted rehearsals with the transport erector in early June for the vehicle\u2019s second flight, which is expected no earlier than June 20.<\/p>\n
The first ZQ-3 flew on Dec. 3, 2025, successfully reaching low-Earth orbit with a dummy payload. Its first stage attempted to land approximately 300 km downrange of the launch site but experienced an engine issue during its \u201c1-5-1\u201d landing burn, impacting the ground. Notably, the stage had navigated itself back to within meters of the landing pad.<\/p>\n
The chief engineer Zhang Xiaodong pointed out that the team estimated an 80% chance of success prior to that flight, and has learned a great deal from the data, so this next attempt aims to turn that near-miss into a perfect recovery.<\/p>\n
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ZhuQue-2E Y6 ascends with satellites for SpaceSail and China Mobile on June 9 (Landspace)<\/p>\n
LandSpace has since flown its ZhuQue-2E (ZQ-2E) in May, carrying a payload adaptor for Qianfan internet satellites on its successful return-to-flight mission. Another ZQ-2E flew earlier this week, on June 9, bearing the logos of SpaceSail and China Mobile. Onboard was a Direct-to-Cell (DTC) demonstration satellite for Shanghai Spacesail as the company looks to follow the path of Starlink\u2019s DTC models or AST SpaceMobile\u2019s Bluebird satellites.<\/p>\n
It was accompanied by the second satellite to be launched for state-owned China Mobile. The telecom provider was granted approval to begin its own internet broadband constellation last September. LandSpace has now begun production in its new factory in Jiangsu, where the next ZQ-3 vehicle is reportedly being manufactured.<\/p>\n
Qianfan and Guowang constellations grow<\/p>\n
The CZ-12 debut was one of three polar missions for the Shanghai SpaceSail company within a span of nearly four days at the start of June. Two additional launches were conducted within two days of each other, with a Chang Zheng 6A launching a batch of 18 Qianfan satellites from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center on June 4 and a Chang Zheng 8 launching 18 more from the commercial spaceport at the Wenchang Space Launch site in Hainan. With production on the CZ-8 reportedly now ceased, it is expected to fly in its CZ-8A variant on future missions.<\/p>\n
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CZ-8 launches Qianfan satellites for Shanghai SpaceSail on June 5 from Wenchang Space Launch Center. (Credit: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation)<\/p>\n
There are now 200 Qianfan satellites in orbit, with plans to reach 324 this year. Shanghai SpaceSail has ambitions to deploy thousands in subsequent years. The constellation aims to bring an internet service online by the end of this year and has declared that it already has the capacity to serve maritime customers.<\/p>\n
The constellation has now overtaken its rival, state-backed Guowang, which has placed 168 satellites into orbit to date. All launches so far have gone to the higher GW-2 sub-shell at an altitude of around 1,145 km, in two orbital planes inclined at 86.5 degrees and 50 degrees. The lower GW-A59 sub-shell from 500 to 600 km has yet to see a launch. May 30 saw the launch of four experimental Weixing Hulianwang Jishu Shiyan satellites from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. The four are trialing DTC technologies, which will inform future craft for the Guowang mega-constellation.<\/p>\n
Chinese reusability concepts continue to expand<\/p>\n
The Linghangzhe<\/em> ship, which is expected to attempt a \u201cnet\u201d style catch of a Chang Zheng 10 first stage in the future, has been spotted while anchored near the coastline of Sanya port in Hainan. Expectations of a late May or early June catch attempt have quietened, though the ship has recently returned to sea, presumably for further rehearsals.<\/p>\n Nayuta Space Xuanniao-R (Black Bird-R) return and landing from Nayuta Space animation (Credit: Nayuta Space)<\/p>\n Nayuta Space, a Chinese commercial company, recently revealed a more novel way it intends to land its reusable boosters: horizontally. The Beijing-based company originally planned to catch the Xuanniao-R (or Black Bird-R) booster using a Starship-like catch tower, which rival Cosmoleap has since been seen developing and testing. The horizontal landing approach, nicknamed the \u201cbellyflop,\u201d is known as the Aerodynamic Deceleration, Horizontal Landing (ADHL) method.<\/p>\n According to Nayuta Space, the approach removes the dependency on specialized recovery hardware and optimizes propellant use and payload margins. The company plans to guide the booster through atmospheric descent using its four fins and, in the last moments of flight, fire three of its thirteen engines to cancel out its vertical and horizontal velocities. The vehicle will then rotate and use six smaller thrusters along the booster\u2019s sides to complete the landing in a horizontal orientation.<\/p>\n The Black Bird-R will stand 70 m tall and 3.8 m in diameter, making it similar in size and thrust to the Falcon 9, though it will use liquid methane and liquid oxygen as propellants. The landing concept is as ambitious as the company\u2019s goal to perform a test flight early next year. Aside from renders, the company recently showed pathfinder hardware and testing of the four aerodynamic control surfaces, and recently raised additional funding to support continued development and testing.<\/p>\n Nayuta Space tests the aerodynamic control surfaces on a pathfinder for its Xuanniao-R (Black Bird-R) vehicle. (Credit: Nayuta Space)<\/p>\n Tianwen-2 asteroid rendezvous<\/p>\n China\u2019s Tianwen-2 mission was expected to reach asteroid 469219 Kamo\u02bboalewa on June 7, performing a rendezvous maneuver burn to match its orbit. However, despite the event having been publicly predicted for months, neither the media nor the China National Space Administration (CNSA) has reported it. Observations, such as from the Dwingeloo radio telescope in the Netherlands, have indicated the craft is on course toward its target, though.<\/p>\n Close-proximity operations should have begun once the spacecraft had matched the asteroid\u2019s orbit, descending to about 20 km from its surface in early July. The CNSA may be waiting for post-event verification or saving its publicity for the first close-up images, expected in July. If successful, Tianwen-2 will collect samples from the asteroid and return them to Earth in 2028. After returning its samples to Earth, China\u2019s first asteroid sample-return mission will then head back out into deep space to study the main-belt comet 311P\/PANSTARRS.<\/p>\n (Lead image: Chang Zheng 12B lifts off on its maiden launch from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Credit: CASC\/Ren Changsheng)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" China kicked off a busy month with three missions for a single internet constellation in the span of nearly four days. Another maiden launch saw the nation\u2019s tallest rocket successfully reach orbit, though the debut raised eyebrows with the absence of airspace notices ahead of the mission. 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