"China's Landspace Rockets Towards Stainless Steel Innovation"

Chinese launch startup Landspace has announced plans to develop a reusable stainless steel rocket called Zhuque-3. The rocket will feature stainless propellant tanks and Tianque methane-liquid oxygen propellant rocket engines. It will have a payload capacity of 20 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO) when expendable, with recovery of the first stage allowing for 16.5 tons to LEO. Landspace's announcement comes shortly after SpaceX's second Starship/Super Heavy launch test. The development of the stainless steel rocket will present challenges related to weight and manufacturing complexities. Landspace faces competition from other Chinese startups also working on reusable liquid propellant rockets.