HELSINKI — Landspace, one of China’s leading launch startups, has had its application for an initial public offering accepted by the Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market.
The Shanghai Stock Exchange website showed the IPO status for Landspace Technology Co., Ltd. had changed to “accepted,” Chinese media reported Dec. 31. Landspace, which recently made China’s first-ever attempt at recovering an orbital booster, is seeking to raise around $1 billion (7.5 billion yuan), according to its prospectus, to support its drive to develop and scale reusable launch services.
Landspace successfully sent the second stage of its stainless steel Zhuque-3 into orbit Dec. 2 Eastern, but the propulsive vertical landing attempt at a downrange pad failed shortly after its landing burn. It plans a second launch in the first half of 2026.
The firm’s acceptance onto the tech-focused STAR Market follows an announcement Dec. 26 that rules for eligibility of commercial rocket firms had been eased by Chinese regulators. It appears to also represent a major milestone for the commercial space market in China, signaling commercial firms gaining credibility and access to public capital markets. It follows strong policy support for commercial space from China’s central government.
Landspace filed preliminary documents with STAR Market in late July 2025, targeting going public as soon as early 2026.
The $1 billion target comes despite the company having a limited launch record, with a single, failed launch of the solid Zhuque-1 in 2018, six flights of the methalox Zhuque-2 series—with the first, in December 2022, and latest, in August 2025, ending in failure—and the single successful launch of the Zhuque-3 in December, which carried no payload. The company is aiming to win contracts to launch batches of satellites for the Guowang and Qianfan (Thousand Sails) megaconstellations, as well as the Honghu-3 constellation.
Other launch firms including CAS Space, a spinoff from the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), in early August, and commercial launch firms Space Pioneer and Galactic Energy, both in October, have also filed documents ahead of planned IPOs.
Along with Landspace, all three are also developing reusable launch vehicles. The first launches of the medium-lift Pallas-1 (Galactic Energy), Kinetica-2 (CAS Space) and Tianlong-3 (Space Pioneer) rockets are expected in the coming weeks, though booster recovery attempts are not expected for the debut launch attempts. The firms are all also working on larger reusable launch vehicles.
China sees reusable launch as key to the construction of its megaconstellation projects as well as narrowing the gap with developments in the U.S. Meanwhile, in the U.S., SpaceX is considering an IPO in 2026, the company’s CFO said Dec. 12.
Andrew Jones covers China’s space industry for SpaceNews. Andrew has previously lived in China and reported from major space conferences there. Based in Helsinki, Finland, he has written for National Geographic, New Scientist, Smithsonian Magazine, Sky…
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