BEIJING, July 10 — China’s state-owned space contractor, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, or CASC, is moving to carve out a larger share of the global commercial launch market with a reusable rocket program that aims to cut costs by 30 to 50 percent. The company announced plans for a second Long March 10B mission in September 2024, following the successful recovery of the rocket’s first-stage booster.
That booster will undergo inspection and refurbishment at a CASC facility in Tianjin, with the goal of reusing it on a subsequent flight. The economics are straightforward.
CASC plans to offer commercial launch services on the Long March 10B starting in 2026 at a price of 200 million yuan per launch, or roughly 28 million U.S. dollars at current exchange rates. That price point puts the Chinese rocket in direct competition with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Rocket Lab’s Electron, two vehicles that have dominated the reusable launch market in recent years. The company said the 30 to 50 percent cost reduction from reusability is the key to making that pricing work.
CASC is not stopping with the Long March 10B. The company is developing a family of reusable rockets.
The Long March 10A, a smaller variant capable of lifting 10 metric tons to low Earth orbit, and the Long March 10C, a heavy-lift variant with a 25-metric-ton capacity to LEO, are both scheduled for first flights in 2025. The Long March 10B itself is expected to support resupply missions to China’s Tiangong space station, with the first operational cargo mission planned for 2025. The Chinese government has set a target of 100 orbital launches per year by 2027.
For context, China conducted 67 orbital launches in 2023. The ramp-up reflects a national strategy to build a self-sufficient space infrastructure and to compete commercially with American and European providers.
Commercial players enter the field
China’s commercial launch sector is also developing reusable technology. Galactic Energy, a private Chinese launch provider, is developing a reusable rocket called the Pallas-1. The company said the first flight of the Pallas-1 is expected in 2025.
Galactic Energy joins a growing list of Chinese commercial firms that have launched satellites and tested rocket technologies in recent years, though none have yet demonstrated a recovered and reused booster stage. The CASC recovery of the Long March 10B booster, if confirmed as a successful retrieval of an intact stage, would represent a significant technical milestone for China’s space program.
Reusable rocket technology has been the domain of American companies, particularly SpaceX, which has landed and reused Falcon 9 boosters hundreds of times since 2015. Rocket Lab has also recovered and reused Electron boosters, though on a smaller scale. China’s push into reusability comes as the global launch market grows more crowded.
The United States, Europe, India, and Japan all have reusable rocket programs in various stages of development. CASC’s pricing strategy — 200 million yuan per Long March 10B launch — is intended to undercut many competitors while still generating revenue for the state-owned enterprise.
Inspection and refurbishment in Tianjin
The recovered Long March 10B booster will be transported to CASC’s facility in Tianjin, a major port city east of Beijing. Engineers there will inspect the stage for damage from reentry and landing, then refurbish it for a second flight. The September 2024 mission will be the first test of whether a Chinese-recovered booster can fly again, a process that SpaceX has refined into routine operations but that remains technically demanding.
China’s space program has historically focused on government and military missions, but the commercial launch market is growing quickly. CASC officials noted that the Long March 10B’s reusability is expected to make Chinese launch services more competitive internationally.
The company plans to offer commercial launches on the rocket starting in 2026, targeting both domestic satellite operators and foreign customers. The 2027 target of 100 orbital launches per year would require China to nearly double its 2023 launch rate of 67. Reusable rockets are central to that plan, as they allow for faster turnaround times between launches and lower per-mission costs.
CASC’s family of Long March 10 rockets — the A, B, and C variants — is designed to cover a range of payload sizes and mission types, from small satellite deployments to heavy cargo runs to the Tiangong station. The September 2024 test flight will be closely watched by the global launch industry.
If CASC successfully reuses the recovered booster, it will mark China’s entry into the small club of nations and companies that have demonstrated orbital-class rocket reusability. That would have direct implications for launch pricing, market share, and the balance of competition in the commercial space sector.
Sources
- China's Commercial Space Surge: 100+ Launches Planned for 2026
- China recovered its first reusable rocket and showed… – Ars Technica
