There are more than 100 Chinese commercial space companies, almost all having been establishing within the past 5 years. To pick one, or even a handful, as the leading Chinese commercial space companies is no easy task, with hoards to choose from, and with most of the companies being new enough to not actually be making money yet.
With that said, one of the few companies that would make the leaderboard on almost any China watcher’s space list is Landspace Technologies, likely China’s most well-funded commercial launch company. Founded in Beijing in 2015, Landspace has since raised ~US$400 million across 9 funding rounds, has grown to several hundred employees, and claims to be ~1 year away from launching its Zhuque-2 (ZQ-2) medium-lift rocket, a liquid methalox-powered rocket with capabilities of lifting several tons to LEO/SSO, and with eventual plans for reusability.
On episode 6 of the Dongfang Hour, we sat down with Kevin Xu, Chief Marketing Officer at Landspace and one of the company’s early employees. Our conversation was wide-ranging, covering a broad variety of topics including, but not limited to:
Some Key Takeaways
Landspace has grown a lot in the past 5 years, as has the space sector in China. Kevin came to Landspace in 2017, and at that time, the company hired 1 fresh graduate during the course of the year. Today, the company receives hundreds of applications per year, and makes dozens of hires. People come to companies like Landspace for a number of reasons, but according to Kevin, one such reason is a desire to do something totally different. Compared to his previous role at CGWIC, which involved many similar projects (selling satellites abroad), Landspace offered the chance to build something new from the ground up.
Despite a huge launch capacity of up to 4 tons on the ZQ-2, Landspace is not terribly concerned about filling their rockets—there’s a lot of demand out there, they say. While not directly mentioned in our discussion, a later webinar with Roger Zhang, CEO of Landspace, saw Zhang mention that Landspace is really only competing with themselves, in the sense that the company is developing a novel technology in China (liquid methalox launch capabilities), and their goal is to reach that point as soon as they can, irrespective of what anyone else is doing. Indeed, it sounds an awful lot like “if you build it, they will come”.
Finally, we found out that Landspace has made some advancements on the international front, with Kevin mentioning that the company expects to announce good news in the coming weeks/months. With Landspace and many other Chinese companies starting to mature to the point of offering a product or service, it is highly likely that they will target international markets, often coming with turnkey packages or financing.
With that being said, there are a lot more insights in the full interview, including Kevin’s thoughts on rocket cams, and detailed information on his linguistic prowess. Until next time, this is the Dongfang Hour, the Podcast on the Chinese Aero/space and Tech Sectors.
A Conversation on Chinese Satellite Constellations
China's Future Launch Plans for Crewed Spaceflight, the Growing Trend of Rideshare - Ep 73
Wentian: the Next Big Upgrade to the Chinese Space Station, A Review of China's IFC Market in 2022 - Ep 72
Tianbing Aerospace: the Most Eccentric Chinese Rocket Startup, CASC's 2022 Launch Blue Book & Takeaways - Ep 71
A Chinese Version of Relativity Space, Takeaways from China's Space White Paper - Ep 70
Chinese Launch Startups Are Raising a Historic Amount of Funding in 2022 - Ep 69
Could 2022 be the Year of Massive Chinese Satellite Deployment?, A New Variant of the Long March 8 - Ep 68
How the Chinese Space Station Handles Space Debris, A Retrospective Look at 2021 Rounds of Funding - Ep 67
The Chinese Space Station Tests Module Transfer Capabilities, A Chinese Startup is Developing Laser Comms Technologies - Ep 66
China Confirms Future Chang'e Lunar Missions, Starlink Comes Across The Chinese Space Station - Ep 65
The Top 8 Highlights of Chinese Space in 2021
Expace's Kuaizhou-1A Rocket Fails for the Second Time and Associated Implications, Rocket Pi Launches a Microgravity Platform - Ep 64
Galactic Energy Successfully Launches Ceres-1 and Gives An Exclusive Interview - Ep 63
A Chinese Startup Wants to Commercialize Relay Satellites, The Tiangang EO Constellation, Landspace Updates - Ep 62
Major Chinese Rocket Updates at the 2021 China Commercial Aerospace Forum in Wuhan - Ep 61
China Betting Big on Sea-Based Launch, Revisiting the Concept of a US-China Space Race, The First China-Africa Beidou Conference - Ep 60
Shenzhou 13 Performs a Historic Spacewalk, iSpace Sets Foot in Wenchang, Tianwen-1 Changes Orbit - Ep 59
A New Constellation from Spacety, Orienspace's New Rockets & co-CEO, Linkspace Gives a Sign of Life - Ep 58
Mars Express & Zhurong to Communicate, China Breaks Previous Record in Launch, Launch Company Rocket Buys JZYJ Methalox Engines - Ep 57
Interview Part 2 - The Growing Trend of Chinese Space Culture (feat. Molly Silk)
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