Egregoros

If that's real footage, that's a clean burn. It's probably an exact replica of the Raptor engine (dual flow staged combustion).

@cjd

“If that’s real footage, that’s a clean burn. It’s probably an exact replica of the Raptor engine (dual flow staged combustion).”

Zhuque-3’s Tianque 12A engines are open cycle turbine engines. In the videos of Zhuque-3, you can see the turbine exhaust ports next to the engine nozzles.

@cjd

Zhuque-3’s Tianque 12A engines are open cycle turbine engines. In the videos of Zhuque-3, you can see the turbine exhaust ports next to the engine nozzles.

That said. Landspace, the private Chinese company that designed Zhuque-3, is also developing the BF-20, a Full Flow Staged Combustion Raptor 2 knockoff. BF-20 is for its own version of the fully reusable SpaceX Starship. Landspace’s version is going to be 10 meters in diameter, instead of Elon’s 9 meters in diameter Starship.