蓝箭航天 - The Creator of China's Commercial Space Transportation Systems. 1st Methane-fueled Rocket Launched into Orbit. Launch Services: [email protected]
ZhuQue-2E Y6 Launch Mission Recap
“Long as the journey is, we will reach our destination if we stay the course; difficult as the task is, we will get the job done if we keep working at it.”
— Xunzi, Exhortation to Self-Cultivation
This mission marked the eighth flight of the ZhuQue-2 series launch vehicle and a significant practice for China’s commercial space enterprises in executing a large-scale internet constellation deployment project. It provides vital support for serving major national strategic needs, advancing the iterative upgrading of internet constellation capabilities, and enabling inclusive applications across society.
MISSION SUCCESS | ZhuQue-2E Y6 Launch Vehicle Achieved Full Mission Success
On June 9, 2026, 04:23 p.m. (UTC+8), the ZhuQue-2E (ZQ-2E) Y6 launch vehicle successfully lift-off from LandSpace Launch Complex in Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone. The vehicle completed all planned flight tasks, successfully delivered the Shanghai Spacesail Technologies SPACESAIL DTC 01 satellite and the China Mobile Communications Group CMCC-02 satellite into their designated orbits, achieving full mission success.
Grain in Beard (芒种 · 9th Solar Term)
A Message from the Grain and the Seed · What Is Reaped, What Is Sown
Grain in Beard, also known as "Mangzhong", is the busiest solar term of the year.
"Mang" means the awned grain can be harvested; "Zhong" means the seed can be sown.
What is reaped are the fruits of diligent labor; what is sown are the hopes of future growth.
So it is with farming, and so it is with engineering.
June, for LandSpace, marks a critical phase dense with missions and tight with rhythm.
Every task brought to completion is an accumulation of phased results;
every new beginning lays a solid foundation for the next step forward.
There are no shortcuts in spaceflight.
It relies on dedication poured in day after day, and on verification built step by measured step.
Doing today's work well, fulfilling the tasks already set, making certain things "rocket"-solid, that is the finest harvest.
Setting new goals aloft and taking on new challenges—that is the truest sowing.
In the season of Mangzhong,
we reap the past and live up to the present;
we sow the future and press on toward the new.
Harvest gathered, seeds sown.
Milestones reached, new missions take root.
In the season of Mangzhong,
a message arrives with the sowing—
and every harvest keeps its appointed time.
Lesser Fullness of Grain (小满 · 8th Solar Term)
A Message from the Half-Full Grain · Just the Time to Rise
Unlike the first stirrings of early spring, unlike the blaze of high summer,
Xiaoman is a restrained yet resolute growth—
all things swell, yet none brim over; everything moves forward, yet still holds space for hope.
One week ago, the ZhuQue-2E Y5 soared into the sky.
Like everyone, we already look forward to the next ignition, the next departure, the next farther reach.
But true spaceflight has never been the brilliance of a single instant—
It is in each "Xiaoman" that we gather the strength to cross the vastness of space.
Life is the same.
Flowers not yet in full bloom, the moon not perfectly round — that is when they stir the heart most deeply.
Those distant shores still out of sight, the answers still on the road,
are exactly what gives meaning to setting out again.
"A grain Lesser full surpasses hollow perfection" —
we seek no sudden completeness, only the will to keep moving forward.
For the finest state is never resting at the peak,
but heading into the next ascent while still brimming with fervent hope.
What’s New in ZQ-2E Y5?
• Increased propellant capacity & structural optimization
The EXTENDED first-stage tanks, combined with full subcooled propellant loading, increased propellant capacity by ~15%. Structural mass is further reduced through partial insulation removal, optimized cable routing fairings, and removeal of first-stage fins, reflecting a system-level design optimization approach.
• Three-ignition second stage with high-orbit disposal
ZQ-2E Y5 pioneers, among China’s commercial missions, a three-ignition second-stage flight profile featuring tank-pressure ignition + high altitude deorbit. This approach ensures ignition reliability while enabling rapid high-altitude deorbit, addressing traditional challenges and supporting space debris mitigation requirements.
• Toward “Smart Launch Vehicles”
The first stage introduces in-flight engine anomaly detection and thrust self-correction, while the second stage debuts a propellant utilization system. These enable autonomous diagnosis and response to off-nominal conditions (e.g., thrust deviation, mixture ratio shifts), significantly improving flight reliability and service capability.
• Rapid launch capability
Leveraging mature mission operations, the campaign achieved a 13-day launch cycle and ~1.5-hour pre-launch fueling timeline, laying the foundation for high-frequency launch operations with both ZQ-2E and ZQ-3.
The ZQ-2E Y5 mission marks the ZhuQue-2 series’ entry into a mature and stable operational phase. From the ZQ-2 Y1 to the ZQ-2E Y5, LandSpace has continuously iterated and refined key technologies around LOX–methane launch vehicles, steadily forging a development path built on an vertically integrated supply chain and real-flight campaigns driving serial upgrades. That trajectory lays a solid foundation for China’s commercial space sector to achieve high-cadence, large-scale launch services.
ZQ-2E can now delivers 4-tons to a 500 km Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO) or 6-tons to Low Earth Orbit (LEO), placing it among the leading medium-lift liquid launch vehicles in the commercial sector. The vehicle is designed to support a wide range of mission profiles, including multi-satellite deployment and high-mass launches, and can be combined with the ZhuQue-3 (ZQ-3) reusable launch vehicle to form an integrated launch service package, enhancing capabilities for high-frequency, low-cost access to space.
This successful flight provides high-value flight data to support cross-vehicle technology evolution and further strengthens the ZhuQue series’ launch service capabilities. LandSpace will always advancing LOX–methane propulsion and scalable, cost-efficient launch systems, delivering flexible solutions including dedicated launches, rideshare missions, and constellation deployment services.
MISSION SUCCESS | ZhuQue-2E Y5 Launch Vehicle Achieved Full Mission Success
On May 14, 2026, 11:00 a.m. (UTC+8), the ZhuQue-2E (ZQ-2E) Y5 launch vehicle successfully lift-off from LandSpace Launch Complex in Dongfeng Commercial Space Innovation Pilot Zone. The vehicle completed all planned flight tasks, achieving full mission success.
In parallel, co-branding elements highlighted collaboration with JingDong Logistics. This collaboration showcases how socialized industrial resources can co-power a space campaign. The partnership aims to open a new paradigm of coordinated Earth-space intelligent logistics.
UPDATE | Global Rideshare Availability
LandSpace is currently offering three launch opportunities for international rideshare missions.
For more details, please contact:
[email protected] and [email protected]
A Seven-Decade Celestial Path, Future are Within Reach.
Moving forward, LandSpace will continue to innovate technologically, deliver successful missions, and serve development goals. By deepening expertise in reusable launch vehicles, LOX-methane propulsion systems, and high-capacity launch solutions for large-scale constellations, LandSpace is helping to build a new era of space exploration—one that is truly build by Chinese and truly of this time. The most exciting aspect of China's commercial space future is not just a single shining moment, but the step-by-step construction of a new space age for our time.
PRESS RELEASE | A Seven-Decade Celestial Path: Advancing Toward Next-Generation Launch Capabilities
A Seven-Decade Celestial Path, The Time to Forge Ahead is Now.
Seventy years in a nation's space program is not just the journey from gazing at the stars to reaching them, it is also the pivotal transition from "entering space" to "frequently, affordably, and sustainably accessing space." On the eleventh Space Day of China, we are witnessing not only the depth of history but also a paradigm shift toward the future. Global launch vehicles development are rapidly converging toward LOX-methane propulsion and reusable systems, where cost efficiency and scalability have become the new dividing lines. In this transformation, LandSpace has chosen a longer and more challenging path—building on methane-powered propulsion system and targeting vehicles reusability to answer a defining question of our time: How can accessing space become a scalable and routine capability?
A Seven-Decade Celestial Path, A Shared Cosmos Faith.
As China's "15th Five-Year Plan" designates aerospace as a strategic emerging industry, the commercial space sector is evolving from a "notable industry trend" to a "capability in demand." With a focus on satellite internet, large-scale constellation deployment, low-cost space access, reusable launch vehicles, propulsion system upgrades, and launch site development, the industry is building stronger systemic collaboration. China's commercial space is shifting from successes in individual models, launches, and nodes to competition based on system capability, engineering efficiency, supply chain resilience, and long-term execution.
The ZhuQue-3 Y2 Reusable launch vehicle is undergoing pre-delivery preparations and will once again attempt the recovery and reuse of its first stage.