{"id":65948,"date":"2026-07-16T11:58:25","date_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:58:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/?p=65948"},"modified":"2026-07-16T11:58:25","modified_gmt":"2026-07-16T11:58:25","slug":"a-rocket-comes-home-what-chinas-reusable-booster-test-really-tells-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pakistanintheworld.pk\/live\/a-rocket-comes-home-what-chinas-reusable-booster-test-really-tells-us\/","title":{"rendered":"A rocket comes home: what China’s reusable-booster test really tells us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Qaiser Nawab, Chairman BRISD<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"On July 10, off the coast of Hainan, a Long March-10B rocket lifted away from the Wenchang launch site, dropped its first stage roughly six minutes into flight, and watched it fall back through the atmosphere toward a waiting ship. Instead of unfolding legs and settling onto a floating pad like SpaceX\u2019s Falcon 9, the Chinese booster was caught in a giant net strung across a frame on the deck of a recovery vessel. It worked.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

China\u2019s state broadcaster called it a breakthrough. Foreign outlets, more cautiously, described it accurately: the first time any country has recovered an orbital-class booster using a net at sea, and only the second time any country has recovered one at all.<\/p>\n

It is worth sitting with that sentence before reaching for dramatic labels, because both the achievement and its limits deserve clear-eyed assessment.<\/p>\n

The engineering is genuinely impressive. The Long March-10B is a two-stage, five-metre-diameter vehicle powered by seven kerosene-burning engines on the first stage and a methane engine on the upper stage. Successfully guiding a spent booster back from space and catching it on a moving ship required precise control, high-altitude engine restarts, and reliable sensors working under extreme conditions.<\/p>\n

The rocket is designed to carry about 16 tonnes to low-Earth orbit in reusable mode, putting it in the same broad class as the Falcon 9. Chinese engineers say they plan to fly the same booster again before the end of 2026.<\/p>\n

A state effort and a private one, moving in parallel<\/p>\n

What makes this test more significant is the broader context. The Long March-10B comes from the state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. Yet a newer commercial player, LandSpace, is pursuing the same goal with its Zhuque-3 rocket. In December 2025, LandSpace achieved orbit with its second stage even though its booster recovery failed. Both organisations are now closing in on operational reusability, suggesting this is not a one-off stunt but part of a deliberate national push.<\/p>\n

Beijing has made reusability a priority in its space plans. Large satellite constellations planned for low orbit simply do not make economic sense if each rocket can be used only once. Reusability is therefore not a vanity project \u2014 it is becoming a practical necessity for China\u2019s ambitions in space-based communications and Earth observation.<\/p>\n

India\u2019s Sea-Based Nuclear Capabilities: Implications for Pakistan | China is not the Sole Target | Roundtable @ ISSI<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n