By now you’ve heard the news: SpaceX will conduct an initial public offering of stock in 2026 — at a valuation of $1.5 trillion. CEO Elon Musk personally owns 42% of the company. Added to the $484 billion Musk is already worth, a $1.5 trillion valuation on SpaceX would make him officially the world’s first trillionaire.
Wow.
Despite all the talk about how people dislike billionaires these days, investors seem more than happy to help Musk 1000x that goal. They’re lining up to participate in the SpaceX IPO, unable to resist the prospect of owning a piece of the world’s biggest and most successful space company.
I personally think that’s a bad idea. As I argued last month, SpaceX is likely to go public at a sky-high price of nearly 70 times annual sales, which I called “a valuation that’s very hard to defend.”
But what if you could buy a stock that’s a lot like SpaceX and costs 1,500 times less?
Image source: Getty Images.
No, I’m not talking about U.S. space companies Rocket Lab(NASDAQ: RKLB) or Blue Origin today. (Although Rocket Lab has been a pretty terrific investment, and I happen to think Blue Origin might be one, too.)
Instead, today I want to talk about LandSpace, arguably the best privately owned space company in China, and the closest thing China possesses to its very own version of SpaceX.
China possesses a multitude of space start-ups, with outta-this-world names like iSpace, Galactic Energy, and Space Pioneer. Arguably, though, LandSpace leads the pack in China.
Founded in 2015, LandSpace is 13 years younger than SpaceX, and apples-to-apples, it’s probably more than a decade behind SpaceX in terms of development. Still, I’d argue it’s the best China’s got at present.
Best known for its liquid oxygen and liquid methane-fueled Zhuque‑2 rocket, LandSpace first reached orbit in 2013; it’s flown that rocket four more times since. LandSpace’s latest project is the Zhuque-3 rocket. It’s not an original name — nor an original idea. Modeled on the SpaceX reusable Falcon 9, Zhuque-3 reached orbit in December 2025, but crashed during its landing attempt (as did the first several Falcon 9 reusables).
In 2026, LandSpace aims to perfect the process. Twelve launches are planned this year, and perhaps as many as 12 landing attempts. If the company’s performance is anything like SpaceX’s, at least one of these should succeed.
And odds favor LandSpace’s performance being very much like SpaceX’s. Consider the similarities:
Like the Falcon 9, Zhuque-3 is a two-stage rocket sporting nine first-stage engines for launch, and grid fins and legs for landing. Like the Falcon 9, it’s being designed with a goal of making it reusable 20 or more times before needing to be replaced. Zhuque-3’s payload is similar to Falcon 9’s, if a bit lighter weight — 8 to 12 tons of payload to Low Earth Orbit. And like SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft, it’s being built out of stainless steel for improved structural integrity and thermal performance during reentry.
If all goes well and LandSpace succeeds in landing and reflying a Zhuque-3 in 2026, it will lag SpaceX’s first landing of a Falcon 9 by only 11 years — not a bad performance for a company 13 years younger than SpaceX. It will actually, arguably demonstrate that LandSpace is catching up to its mentor.
Admittedly, one would hope LandSpace would be able to catch up a bit faster. After all, SpaceX has already done all this before, already demonstrated that reusability works, and already made all the mistakes (that LandSpace can now avoid) and achieved all the successes (that LandSpace can now imitate).
Admittedly, too, LandSpace still has a lot of catching up to do if it’s to get where SpaceX is today, racking up 150-plus successful Falcon 9 launches annually — at the same time as it juggles lunar lander development, test flies a fleet of giant Starships, and builds the world’s biggest constellation of broadband internet satellites as well. Still, using SpaceX as a roadmap gives space investors a good idea of where LandSpace will be going, even if it takes them another decade or so to get there.
Should you be interested in investing in the LandSpace IPO, here’s what we know about it:
The Shanghai Stock Exchange’s STAR Market has approved LandSpace for a public listing in early 2026. The company is not yet profitable, reporting revenue of only 36.4 million yuan ($5 million) in the first half of 2025, and losses of ($87.6 million). On the plus side, revenue grew eightfold in the first half of 2025 versus the first half of 2024. The company targets a $1 billion valuation at IPO.
LandSpace may not be quite as good a rocket company as SpaceX. It may be unprofitable, and a decade behind the U.S. space giant in terms of technology — but hey, at least LandSpace costs 1,500 times less!
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