China's First! "Long March 10B" Successfully Achieves Sea-Based Net Retrieval of First-Stage Rocket

It's truly a cause for great celebration! According to reports from official media outlets such as Xinhua News Agency, at around 12:00 PM on July 10, the Long March 10B rocket (CZ-10B) conducted its maiden launch from the Hainan Commercial Aerospace Launch Site. The mission was a complete success: the payload satellite successfully entered orbit, and the first stage of the rocket achieved "sea-based net retrieval recovery."

From this point onward, it can be officially announced that the Long March 10B has become China’s first orbital launch vehicle to successfully recover its first stage during a full mission. As a result, China has now become the second country in the world to master large-capacity reusable rocket technology.

Similar to the Zhuque-3 and Long March 12A rockets, the Long March 10B also attempted first-stage recovery on its very first flight. However, unlike the previous two, whose maiden flights successfully placed satellites into orbit but failed in first-stage recovery, the Long March 10B succeeded in recovering its first stage right on the first attempt—and this recovery was accomplished via a globally unique sea-based net retrieval ship method. It must be said that the technical capabilities of the national team remain as consistently reliable as ever. Moreover, under recovered conditions, the Long March 10B boasts an impressive Low Earth Orbit (LEO) payload capacity exceeding 16 tons.

With the successful recovery of the Long March 10B rocket, it is expected that China’s commercial space industry will soon enter a high-speed development phase. For example, low-orbit internet satellite constellations like “StarNet” and “Qianfan” will enter a period of intensive deployment and network formation. After all, both of these constellations plan to deploy over 10,000 satellites—now they are simply waiting for reusable rockets to achieve successful recovery and technological maturity.

In conclusion, aside from the Long March 10B, it is highly likely that the Zhuque-3 Ya-2 rocket will also conduct a first-stage recovery test this month. We certainly hope that Zhuque-3 will achieve success as well...

Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870302907141642/

Disclaimer: This article represents the personal views of the author