Long March 10B: World-First Net Recovery Makes History

On July 10, 2026, China’s Long March 10B (CZ-10B) rocket launched from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site and achieved a historic milestone: the world’s first successful net-based recovery of a rocket booster at sea. Approximately six minutes after stage separation, the rocket’s first stage descended vertically and was captured by a flexible net system aboard the recovery vessel “Linghangzhe” (Pilot) in the South China Sea, marking China’s first controlled recovery of a launch vehicle first stage.

A New Path in Rocket Recovery

The CZ-10B’s net recovery system represents a distinct third approach in reusable rocket technology, joining the ranks of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 (landing legs) and Starship (mechanical arm catch). According to IT之家, this is China’s first successful controlled recovery of a launch vehicle first stage and the world’s first net-based recovery of a rocket booster.

Unlike Falcon 9’s vertical landing legs or Starship’s tower-mounted “chopstick” arms, the net system uses a sea-based flexible capture mechanism. The rocket deploys a hook after re-entry, which is caught by grid-shaped arresting cables on the recovery vessel. This approach offers several advantages: it eliminates the need for heavy landing legs (saving 2-3 tons of weight), requires less precision than other methods (tens-of-meters tolerance versus 5-meter for Falcon 9 or centimeter-level for Starship), and causes less structural stress on the rocket body through flexible capture.

Technical Specifications

The CZ-10B is a 5-meter diameter, two-stage liquid propellant rocket standing 63.6 meters tall with a liftoff mass of approximately 760 tons and liftoff thrust of about 890 tons from seven YF-100K engines. In reusable mode, it can deliver 16 tons to low Earth orbit. As IT之家 detailed, the rocket features a newly developed liquid oxygen/methane second stage built for commercial launch demands, while the first stage uses proven liquid oxygen/kerosene engines.

Chen Muye, an engineer at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), explained the recovery mechanism: “Among the 7 engines, 5 can gimbal and 2 are fixed. Additionally, 5 engines can be restarted — during the return phase, 2 engines ignite for deceleration, and during the final landing phase, 3 engines restart for the net-hooking landing.”

The Recovery Platform

The recovery vessel “Linghangzhe” is a purpose-built 25,000-ton displacement platform measuring 144 meters long and 50 meters wide. Its development timeline — from concept design in September 2024 to delivery in November 2025 — demonstrates the rapid pace of China’s reusable rocket program. The vessel uses dynamic positioning to maintain station, and its net system is conceptually similar to how aircraft carrier arresting cables catch landing jets.

Commercial and Strategic Implications

The successful recovery has immediate implications for China’s commercial space ambitions. According to analysis from Guancha.cn, reusable rockets can reduce per-launch costs by 60-80% by amortizing expensive hardware across multiple flights. This cost reduction is critical for China’s satellite internet constellations, including the Qianfan (千帆) project, which have been constrained by launch capacity.

The Securities Times reported that Chinese commercial space stocks surged on July 10 following the announcement, with satellite ETFs hitting daily trading limits. Analysts noted that “reusable rocket technology breakthrough is urgent and is the core bottleneck of the domestic chain,” adding that breaking through this technology “will open the ceiling for the industry.”

Dual-Pathway Strategy

China is pursuing two recovery approaches simultaneously. While the CZ-10B uses net capture, other Chinese rockets — including the Zhuque-3 from LandSpace and the CZ-12A — are developing traditional landing leg recovery. This dual-pathway strategy ensures China can match different mission requirements, with net recovery offering advantages for sea-based operations from the low-latitude Hainan launch site.

What’s Next

The CZ-10B is the commercial variant of the Long March 10 family, which also includes crewed versions for China’s lunar program. The CZ-10A (crewed variant) is expected to achieve its first crewed flight by 2027, potentially faster than Falcon 9’s decade-long path to crewed certification. The recovered first stage from this mission is planned for re-flight by the end of 2026, which will be a critical milestone in validating the reuse cycle.

This achievement positions China as a major competitor in the global commercial space economy, with the potential to dramatically reduce launch costs and increase launch frequency — key factors in the race to deploy satellite internet constellations and support deep space exploration.