On July 10, 2026 at 12:15 pm, a rocket took off from the Hainan Commercial Space Launch Site. Eight minutes later, one of its sub stages landed from high altitude in a controllable manner on a sea platform and was subsequently launched; Well "; The zigzag interception net system ensures stable capture - this is China's first controllable recovery of a carrier rocket and the world's first carrier rocket net system recovery.
Huatai Securities classified this incident as a case of domestic commercial aerospace; DeepSeek Moment ";.
The latest report from the agency states that just as the emergence of DeepSeek has reshaped the market's understanding of the valuation logic of the AI industry chain, the successful recovery of Long March 10B marks a shift in the investment logic of the commercial aerospace sector; Expectations for Technical Validation; Switch to "; Reuse Economic Validation "; ——The bottleneck of transportation cost for constellation networking has begun to show substantial breakthroughs.
With the opening of the path of decreasing launch costs, the pace of low orbit constellation networking, frequency of commercial rocket launches, satellite payloads and terminal orders, space data and space computing applications are expected to accelerate their implementation.
Historic moment: Chang Jubilee sets two records; The world's number one;
The technical content of this task far exceeds market expectations. Changshib is a 5-meter diameter two-stage series configuration rocket developed by the First Academy of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation. The first stage of the core adopts the state of the first sub stage of the Long Ten Armor and uses liquid oxygen kerosene propellant, while the second stage of the core is equipped with a newly developed high thrust liquid oxygen methane engine for the first time, with a takeoff thrust of about 890 tons and a takeoff weight of about 760 tons. The reusable low Earth orbit carrying capacity reaches 16 tons.
This mission set two historical records: firstly, it was China's first successful implementation of controllable recovery of a carrier rocket, making the Long March 5B the first reusable carrier rocket in China to successfully carry out recovery, and also the 657th launch of the Long March series; Secondly, "; Well "; The recovery of high-strength buffering and blocking net system with glyph shape is the world's first technological route, which belongs to China's aerospace industry and has no precedent in the world.
At the technical verification level, this maiden flight completed a full process closed-loop verification of a series of core technologies, including overall optimization design of the combination configuration, bottom transmission of high thrust box, management of partition tank propellant, methane self generation boosting, multiple engine starts and high-altitude ignition, high-precision navigation control, etc. According to the official website of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the recovered first stage is expected to complete a reusable flight before the end of the year.
Online Recycling: A Disruptive Engineering Logic
Unlike the vertical landing leg scheme of SpaceX Falcon 9, the Long Ten B chose a completely different technological path with profound engineering logic behind it.
According to Xinhua News Agency on July 10th, the return phase is divided into four stages: taxiing adjustment, power deceleration, aerodynamic deceleration, and landing. The most critical landing step innovation adopts the world's first '; Well "; The high-strength buffering and blocking net system with a character shape, combined with the hanging rope mechanism on the arrow, achieves the capture of the arrow body. Chen Muye from the Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation stated that the advantage of net based recovery lies in the elimination of landing legs: it is conducive to simplifying the structure on the rocket, reducing the weight of the rocket body, increasing the carrying capacity, and has strong adaptability to the deviation of the landing point. It can be achieved through net based coordination; Enlarge "; Capture the window.
The recycling platform that carries this system; The Navigator "; The rocket was developed and delivered by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in November 2025, with a length of 144 meters, a width of 50 meters, and a full load displacement of 25000 tons.
In terms of separation technology, Changshiyi has also made innovations.
Guotai Haitong's research points out that the separation of the first and second stages of traditional disposable rockets relies on pyrotechnic devices, and impact loads can cause structural damage. Chang Shiyi adopts the "; Gas driven thrust separation scheme; The second stage is smoothly pushed away from the first stage by a high-pressure gas driven push rod. After the action is completed, the push rod is retracted to maximize the first stage arrow body; Not a single hair damaged; Create the most ideal state for subsequent reuse. In addition, the Long Ten B adopts the "; Sanping "; The test launch mode (horizontal assembly, horizontal testing, horizontal transfer) can compress the launch preparation time to within 14 days, effectively improving the launch frequency and mission response speed.
Next catalyst: Zhuque No.3 Yao-2
The success of Long Ten B is not the endpoint, but the starting point of a series of continuous catalysis.
In terms of private rockets, the Zhuque-3 Yao-2 completed its static ignition test at the Dongfeng Commercial Aerospace Innovation Test Zone on June 29th. All key ground verification work before launch has been completed, and it has now entered the ready to launch state. It will attempt a first stage vertical landing and recovery again. Zhang Xiaodong, the chief designer of Zhuque-3, previously stated at the 2026 Space Computing Industry Conference that if the recovery is successful, he will strive to attempt the first recovery and reuse flight in the fourth quarter.
Dongfang Securities pointed out that one of the main concerns in the previous market about commercial aerospace was the long industry cycle. However, this breakthrough in rocket recycling technology, coupled with the plan to conduct reusable test flights by the end of the year, is expected to lead to the early landing of large-scale reusable launch nodes. After reusability, the frequency of rocket launches will significantly increase, thereby driving the acceleration of constellation networking.
Catalytic synchronous propulsion at the satellite end: The satellite network experimental satellite continues to verify, and new technologies such as high-speed laser communication terminals and 5G NTN are accelerating their demonstration. The networking and research and development progress of the Qianfan constellation are synchronously accelerating, and high-frequency launches may become normalized.
Space arms race: Countdown to competition for frequency orbit resources
The background of the successful recovery of Changshiyi is that the global satellite Internet competition has entered a white hot stage, and the strategic value of frequency orbit resources has become increasingly prominent.
SpaceX officially applied to deploy the third-generation Starlink (Gen3) constellation this week, with a scale of up to 100000 satellites, positioned as the global AI communication backbone network; In January 2026, SpaceX has submitted a larger proposal to the FCC; Starmind" The space-based AI computing power constellation plan plans to have a maximum of 1 million satellites, with the main model AI1 satellite having an average computing power of 120kW per satellite
Faced with SpaceX's million level plan, in December 2025, China applied to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) for a super large scale satellite constellation plan with a total of over 200000 satellites, covering about 14 constellations, setting a new record for the number of domestic applications. ITU implements the 'Frequency Track Resources' policy; Register first, occupy first; The principle is that the first satellite must be launched and operate normally for 90 days within 7 years after application, and 100% constellation deployment must be completed within 14 years.
This means that China must complete constellation networking at a faster pace. The successful recycling of Changshib has precisely opened up the bottleneck of transportation costs at the most critical point in this time window.
