On Saturday, the methane powered carrier rocket of Beijing based private enterprise LandSpace successfully flew for the second time, sending three satellites into orbit.

According to a press release from Land Space Company, the ZQ 2-Y3 rocket was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:39 am and deployed three experimental satellites to a sun synchronous orbit at an altitude of 460 kilometers.

The Y3 in the rocket name means that the aircraft is the third in the ZQ 2 series.

ZQ2 is the world's first methane fueled rocket to enter Earth orbit, and also the largest and most powerful private rocket in China.

The rocket model is 49.5 meters high and 3.35 meters wide. Its takeoff weight is 220 tons and launch thrust is 268 tons.

LandSpace stated that the spacecraft is capable of sending satellites with a total weight of 1.5 tons into a typical sun synchronous orbit approximately 500 kilometers from Earth.

The first flight of the ZQ 2 model took place in December 2022 at the Jiuquan Center. The rocket successfully crossed the Carmen Line, a globally recognized boundary between the Earth's atmosphere and the edge of space, but malfunctioned in the second stage and failed to enter orbit. This is the world's first attempt to achieve orbital flight using methane fueled rockets.

In July, ZQ-2 conducted its second successful launch from Jiuquan, marking the world's first methane fueled rocket orbital mission.

The main propulsion system of the rocket, TQ-12, was China's first methane engine. Before LandSpace, only a few companies in the United States had developed this type of engine.

Compared to traditional rocket engines that can only work once, methane engines are reusable and more environmentally friendly.

LandSpace produces the ZQ 2 and its engines at its factory located in Huzhou, Zhejiang Province. This is the first private carrier rocket factory in China and the largest of its kind in Asia.