Maritime recovery of an orbital stage, use of net with hooks and promise of reuse place the new Chinese test at the center of the space race, in a technological dispute involving costs, launch frequency, and expansion of satellite constellations.
The unprecedented recovery of the first stage brings the Chinese space program closer to the regular reuse of rockets, a resource employed to increase mission frequency and reduce costs associated with launching commercial satellites into low Earth orbit.
On Friday (10), China conducted its first controlled recovery of the first stage of an orbital rocket, after launching the Long March 10B from the commercial space center in Hainan, Wenchang, in the south of the country.
The vehicle took off at 12:15 local time, placed its payload into a previously defined orbit, and also completed the experimental objective, which consisted of bringing the booster back to a platform positioned at sea.
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About six minutes after separating from the upper stage, the first stage began its vertical descent and was captured by a high-strength net, combined with hooks installed on the rocket’s structure itself.
The result represents an advancement in the Chinese effort to develop reusable launchers, although a single successful test does not yet demonstrate the operational regularity achieved by SpaceX with the Falcon 9 boosters.
Sea capture dispenses with landing legs
Instead of directly touching the deck with retractable legs, as occurs in the maritime landings of the Falcon 9, the Long March 10B uses four capture hooks to attach to the net mounted on the platform.
During the return, the booster went through stages of unpowered flight, position correction, braking with the engines, and aerodynamic deceleration, before reaching the center of the retention system installed on the ship.
The net is cross-shaped and employs cables prepared to absorb the energy of the rocket during capture, allowing the stage to remain suspended after contact, without relying on a rigid area to land.
LiDAR sensors positioned at the four corners of the tower automatically track the location and orientation of the vehicle, while the operation takes place without crew in the capture area, according to information released by the state agency Xinhua.
Recovery system seeks to reduce weight and expand capacity
The Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, known by the acronym CALT, claims that net capture simplifies components transported by the rocket, reduces its structural mass, and reserves a larger portion of the capacity for commercial payloads.
Another advantage pointed out by the project managers is the possibility of expanding the capture margin when there are small deviations in descent, because different parts of the net can help retain the stage within the platform.
Delivered by CALT in November 2025, the ship used in the test measures 144 meters in length by 50 meters in width and has a displacement of 25,000 tons when operating with a full load.
These dimensions allow for the accommodation of the tower, damping cables, sensors, and the wide retention area needed to receive a rocket returning in a vertical position after completing the initial stage of the mission.
Long March 10B carries up to 16 tons
Despite the reference to 16 tons in the title, this number corresponds to the payload capacity for low Earth orbit in the reusable configuration, and not to the total weight of the Long March 10B during liftoff.
The rocket measures approximately 63 meters in height, has a diameter of five meters, and reaches a mass of about 760 tons at launch, with initial thrust estimated at approximately 890 tons.
Developed primarily for the commercial market, the vehicle can transport large satellites and support Chinese communications constellation projects in low and medium orbits, according to the objectives presented by the program managers.
The reuse of the first stage is considered important because the booster concentrates engines and other high-value equipment, whose recovery allows them to be distributed across different missions, rather than being discarded after just one flight.
Chinese technology is compared to SpaceX’s Falcon 9
SpaceX conducted the first landing of a Falcon 9 after an orbital mission in December 2015 and subsequently made the recovery of boosters a regular part of its commercial and institutional operations.
Currently, the Falcon 9 lands autonomously on fixed structures on land or drone ships in the ocean, while the Chinese solution seeks to avoid retractable legs and transfer part of the retention system to the maritime platform.
The technical difference does not allow for the conclusion that China has matched the operational experience of Elon Musk’s company, whose boosters accumulate successive flights, but it demonstrates that the country has found another approach to recover orbital stages.
First stage should fly again
The Chinese program has been developing reusable technologies for almost a decade and has recorded previous attempts that did not complete the final landing stage, including missions by the private company LandSpace and the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
After the successful operation, shares of Chinese aerospace companies advanced in local markets, while the government maintains measures aimed at facilitating fundraising by companies involved in the development of reusable rockets.
The Long March 10B also integrates a family of launchers related to the Chinese program of manned lunar missions planned for before 2030, in addition to functioning as a commercial platform for satellites and technological tests.
The next step will be to verify if the recovered booster can be inspected, prepared, and used in another launch by the end of 2026, as reported by the state television CCTV after the mission’s completion.
Will the net capture be able to demonstrate the same reliability and frequency achieved by traditional landings of reusable rockets when the Chinese system begins to face a larger sequence of commercial launches?
