🚨 CHINA PIONEERED WORLD'S FIRST SEA-BASED NET ROCKET CATCH SYSTEM

Following the maiden launch of China's reusable Long March-10B rocket on Friday, the vehicle's first-stage booster returned vertically and was caught by the Linghangzhe recovery platform — China's first sea-based rocket recovery vessel to use a net-capture system.

🔸 The Linghangzhe was converted from an unpowered barge, a vessel without engines that must be towed by other ships.

🔸 Unlike conventional vessels, it must maintain exceptional stability and positioning accuracy in rough seas, effectively providing a stable landing target for a returning rocket.

🔸 The platform, 144 meters in length and with a displacement of 25,000 tonnes, is equipped with a 36-meter-high capture net and a DP-2 dynamic positioning system, which enables it to hold steady in rough seas without anchoring through computer-controlled thrusters.

🔸 The feat marks another step in China's efforts to narrow the gap with the United States in reusable launch technology — a gap that opened after Elon Musk's SpaceX began developing reusable rockets to slash costs — while showcasing the country's expertise in shipbuilding.

🔸 Unlike reusable rockets developed by SpaceX and Blue Origin, which land autonomously on deployable legs, the Long March-10B uses four hooks that latch onto a net suspended from a sea-based recovery platform.

🔸 The successful recovery marks China's mastery of the full recovery technology for heavy-lift liquid rockets, ending the long-standing reliance of a single overseas-developed rocket recovery approach and establishing the world's first sea-based net recovery system.

The platform is equipped with fully domestically developed dynamic positioning and real-time ship-to-rocket control systems, while all key equipment — including propulsion integration and vibration reduction and monitoring systems — was sourced entirely from Chinese suppliers.

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