Reusability and Cost Savings
The Long March 10B’s ability to recover and reuse its first stage is expected to dramatically lower launch costs. CASC figures show that reusability could reduce the price from approximately $10,000 per kilogram to under $2,000 per kilogram. For context, SpaceX currently prices Falcon 9 launches at about $2,500 per kilogram. That places the Long March 10B in a competitive position against the Falcon 9, which has become the dominant workhorse of the commercial launch industry.
Reusability changes the fundamental economics of spaceflight. Traditional rockets are expendable, discarded after a single use. Reusable vehicles reduce the need to manufacture new hardware for every mission, lowering the overall cost of reaching orbit and allowing for higher launch frequencies. This shift makes space more accessible for both commercial and government payloads. SpaceX has completed over 300 successful booster landings as of July 2024, demonstrating the viability of the concept at scale.
The Chinese system’s landing on a floating platform at sea is directly comparable to SpaceX’s drone ship landings, as opposed to land-based recoveries. The Falcon 9 uses nine Merlin 1D engines in its first stage, while Blue Origin’s New Shepard—which uses a single BE-3 engine—has landed 25 times since its first success in November 2015. The Long March 10B’s landing accuracy of within 10 meters represents what CASC describes as a precise control capability, essential for safely touching down on a moving platform at sea.
Technical Details and Engine Heritage
The Long March 10B’s first stage is equipped with four grid fins and landing legs to guide and stabilize its descent. Its YF-100K engine can throttle between 40% and 100% thrust, enabling the fine adjustments needed for a controlled descent. That engine is a derivative of the YF-100, which first flew in 2015 on the Long March 6 and 7 rockets. By building on the flight-proven YF-100, the YF-100K benefits from existing manufacturing lines and test infrastructure, which may help streamline production and reduce development risk.
CASC has not disclosed the number of planned Long March 10B launches or the expected lifespan of the first-stage booster. The success of this landing demonstration provides data that will inform future reusable rocket designs within China’s broader launch vehicle family. No timeline has been announced for the next Long March 10B flight.
Future Prospects and Competition
The Falcon 9, a partially reusable, medium-lift rocket, first launched in 2010 and later became the first commercial rocket to send humans into orbit in 2020. Its ability to recover and reuse its first stage—first achieved in December 2015—has made it the most frequently flown active launch vehicle. It is used for a wide range of missions, including transporting NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. The success of the Long March 10B landing suggests that China is working to achieve similar operational capabilities and cost efficiencies.
By bringing launch costs for the Long March 10B down to under $2,000 per kilogram, CASC would undercut the Falcon 9’s current pricing of about $2,500 per kilogram. How that translates into actual market competitiveness will depend on launch cadence, reliability, and the ability to reuse boosters multiple times. For now, the test landing marks a concrete step toward closing the gap with established reusable rocket systems, while providing valuable engineering data for China’s future launch vehicle developments.
Sources
- China successfully recovers Long March 10B rocket following …
- China achieves reusable rocket breakthrough with Long March-10B
