Another Starship Clone Pops Up In China (arstechnica.com)
(Thursday December 18, 2025 @05:00AM (BeauHD)
from the good-artists-copy-great-artists-steal dept.)
- Reference: 0180413425
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/12/17/2322234/another-starship-clone-pops-up-in-china
- Source link: https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/oh-look-yet-another-starship-clone-has-popped-up-in-china/
Longtime Slashdot reader [1]schwit1 shares a report from Ars Technica:
> Every other week, it seems, a new Chinese launch company pops up with a rocket design and a plan to reach orbit within a few years. For a long time, the majority of these companies [2]revealed designs that looked a lot like SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket . The first of these copy cats, the medium-lift Zhuque-3 rocket built by LandSpace, launched earlier this month. Its primary mission was nominal, but the Zhuque-3 rocket failed its landing attempt, which is understandable for a first flight. Doubtless there will be more Chinese Falcon 9-like rockets making their debut in the near future. However, over the last year, there has been a distinct change in announcements from China when it comes to new launch technology. Just as SpaceX is seeking to transition from its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket -- which has now been flying for a decade and a half -- to the fully reusable Starship design, so too are Chinese companies modifying their visions.
>
> The trend began with the Chinese government. In November 2024 the government announced a significant shift in the design of its super-heavy lift rocket, the Long March 9. Instead of the previous design, a fully expendable rocket with three stages and solid rocket boosters strapped to the sides, the country's state-owned rocket maker [3]revealed a vehicle that mimicked SpaceX's fully reusable Starship. Around the same time, a Chinese launch firm named Cosmoleap [4]announced plans to develop a fully reusable "Leap" rocket within the next few years. An animated video that accompanied the funding announcement indicated that the company seeks to emulate the tower catch-with-chopsticks methodology that SpaceX has successfully employed.
>
> But wait, there's more. In June a company called Astronstone [5]said it too was developing a stainless steel, methane-fueled rocket that would also use a chopstick-style system for first stage recovery. Astronstone didn't even pretend to not copy SpaceX, saying it was "fully aligning its technical approach with Elon Musk's SpaceX." And then, on Friday, the state-aligned [6]China.com reported that a company called "Beijing Leading Rocket Technology" took things a step further. It has named its vehicle "Starship-1," adding that the new rocket will have enhancements from AI and is billed as a "fully reusable AI rocket."
[1] https://slashdot.org/~schwit1
[2] https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/oh-look-yet-another-starship-clone-has-popped-up-in-china/
[3] https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/12/03/0457240/landspace-could-become-chinas-first-company-to-land-a-reusable-rocket
[4] https://spacenews.com/chinese-launch-startup-cosmoleap-secures-funding-for-rocket-featuring-chopstick-recovery-system/
[5] https://orbitaltoday.com/2025/06/04/chinese-startup-astronstone-just-raised-13-9m-to-build-a-methane-powered-starship-clone/
[6] https://tech.china.com/mtz/touzi/2025/1212/207595.html
> Every other week, it seems, a new Chinese launch company pops up with a rocket design and a plan to reach orbit within a few years. For a long time, the majority of these companies [2]revealed designs that looked a lot like SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket . The first of these copy cats, the medium-lift Zhuque-3 rocket built by LandSpace, launched earlier this month. Its primary mission was nominal, but the Zhuque-3 rocket failed its landing attempt, which is understandable for a first flight. Doubtless there will be more Chinese Falcon 9-like rockets making their debut in the near future. However, over the last year, there has been a distinct change in announcements from China when it comes to new launch technology. Just as SpaceX is seeking to transition from its workhorse Falcon 9 rocket -- which has now been flying for a decade and a half -- to the fully reusable Starship design, so too are Chinese companies modifying their visions.
>
> The trend began with the Chinese government. In November 2024 the government announced a significant shift in the design of its super-heavy lift rocket, the Long March 9. Instead of the previous design, a fully expendable rocket with three stages and solid rocket boosters strapped to the sides, the country's state-owned rocket maker [3]revealed a vehicle that mimicked SpaceX's fully reusable Starship. Around the same time, a Chinese launch firm named Cosmoleap [4]announced plans to develop a fully reusable "Leap" rocket within the next few years. An animated video that accompanied the funding announcement indicated that the company seeks to emulate the tower catch-with-chopsticks methodology that SpaceX has successfully employed.
>
> But wait, there's more. In June a company called Astronstone [5]said it too was developing a stainless steel, methane-fueled rocket that would also use a chopstick-style system for first stage recovery. Astronstone didn't even pretend to not copy SpaceX, saying it was "fully aligning its technical approach with Elon Musk's SpaceX." And then, on Friday, the state-aligned [6]China.com reported that a company called "Beijing Leading Rocket Technology" took things a step further. It has named its vehicle "Starship-1," adding that the new rocket will have enhancements from AI and is billed as a "fully reusable AI rocket."
[1] https://slashdot.org/~schwit1
[2] https://arstechnica.com/space/2025/12/oh-look-yet-another-starship-clone-has-popped-up-in-china/
[3] https://science.slashdot.org/story/25/12/03/0457240/landspace-could-become-chinas-first-company-to-land-a-reusable-rocket
[4] https://spacenews.com/chinese-launch-startup-cosmoleap-secures-funding-for-rocket-featuring-chopstick-recovery-system/
[5] https://orbitaltoday.com/2025/06/04/chinese-startup-astronstone-just-raised-13-9m-to-build-a-methane-powered-starship-clone/
[6] https://tech.china.com/mtz/touzi/2025/1212/207595.html
China is still a developing country (Score:1)
by backslashdot ( 95548 )
China can't really be expected to innovate because they lack the per-capita capital of the west which has a 100 year lead on technology vs. China. However Chinese immigrants educated in the West can innovate. For example every modern CPU uses a transistor type called "FinFET" which was invented by a person of Chinese descent. That's one example, there's of course many others.
Re: China is still a developing country (Score:2)
by blue trane ( 110704 )
What do "facts" like the Tiananmen Square democracy protests matter, right?
Re: (Score:2)
by phantomfive ( 622387 )
The government in China tries to micromanage research. Innovation can't happen in a micromanaged way, there needs to be a level of freedom.
A _picture_ of a starship clone. (Score:2)
by Qbertino ( 265505 )
Not an actual starship clone. Minor detail, but not insignificant.
They missed out one term (Score:2)
by Deal In One ( 6459326 )
They forgot to add blockchain to the term "AI rocket".
That would have increased their funding by at least 20%.
Maybe the next rocket startup which is copying SpaceX will mention that as well. /j
AI designed perhaps (Score:2)
So they feed all SpaceX related information they can get their hands on into an AI, which in turn spits out a business plan for a billion dollar startup?