Launches / Zhuque-2E

Past launch Failed

4 x SatNet test satellites

Zhuque-2E, flown by LandSpace

Zhuque-2E lifting off with the 4 x SatNet test satellites mission
Image via The Space Devs.

This was LandSpace's second launch of 2025, and its seventh in all.

Counting every operator, it was the 182nd orbital launch attempt anywhere in 2025, and the second from Launch Area 96A.

Launched
Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, 1:17 a.m. UTC
Window
Friday, Aug. 15, 2025, 1:08 to 1:29 a.m. UTC
Launch site
Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China
Rocket
Zhuque-2E
Operator
LandSpace
Failure
2nd stage attitude control failed at T+258 seconds due to TVC system short circuit, caused by electric arcing on the control system's 450V main bus.

The mission

Officially described as "Satellite-Internet Technology Demonstration Satellite(s)". Probably 4 test satellites for the Chinese state-owned LEO communication satellite constellation SatNet.

Type
Communications
Destination
Low Earth orbit

The rocket

Zhuque-2E (E stands for “enhanced”) is a medium-sized rocket powered by liquid oxygen and methane capable of lifting 6,000 kg of payload into a 200 km low Earth orbit, or 4,000 kg of payload into a 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit. It differs from the baseline Zhuque-2 in using enhanced TQ-12A engines on the 1st stage with higher thrust and specific impulse than the original TQ-12, and a new TQ-15A engine on the 2nd stage that has a moveable nozzle.

The operator

LandSpace

LandSpace is a Chinese private space launch company based in Beijing. It was founded in 2015 by Tsinghua University alumni Zhang Changwu.

Sector
Commercial
Based in
China
Founded
2015
Run by
Zhang Changwu, Founder

11 launches so far, 8 of them successful. The last 4 in a row went to plan.

Wikipedia →

The launch site

It went up from Launch Area 96A at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, China.

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