The nation on Friday successfully tested an experimental rocket retrieval system using a net attached to a sea platform, state media reported, achieving its first controlled recovery of a carrier rocket's first stage.

The Long March-10B rocket lifted off from the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site on Hainan at 12.15pm and, about six minutes after separation of its booster and upper stage, the booster returned vertically and was recovered on an offshore platform, broadcaster CCTV reported.

The test marks China's first successful retrieval of an orbital-class rocket, putting the country closer to developing reusable rockets.

The Long March 10B has been compared to the Falcon 9, SpaceX's widely used medium-lift rocket.

It was developed for commercial aerospace by the country's main state rocket developer, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, and is capable of carrying a payload of at least 16 tonnes to low-Earth orbit.

Unlike the Falcon 9, the Long March-10B does not autonomously land on deployable legs on a ground pad or drone ship, using instead landing hooks to catch the net attached to a sea platform.

As part of the Long March-10 family being developed for China's crewed lunar missions before 2030, the Long March-10B could also provide data and validate technologies relevant to the broader lunar programme.

China plans to use the Long March-10's booster stage again for another launch by the end of this year, CCTV said. (Reuters)


Edited by Aaron Tam