Long March 10B Reusable Rocket Could Reshape Global Launch Market
thevirtualtribune.com · post 66341 · 2026-07-10
ALMATY, July 10 — The economic stakes in the global space launch market are shifting as reusable rocket technology drives down costs and reshapes competition between the United States and China. A new report from Euroconsult valued the global launch market at $12.4 billion in 2023, with projections reaching $35 billion by 2030. That growth trajectory is drawing commercial and state-backed players alike into a race defined by reusability and price per mission.
SpaceX’s Falcon 9, with its reusable first stage, has already demonstrated the financial logic. The company reduced the cost per launch from $62 million for an expendable configuration to approximately $50 million when using a reused booster, data shows.
That price advantage helped SpaceX conduct 96 launches in 2023, dominating the commercial satellite market. China, by contrast, launched 67 orbital missions that same year, second only to the United States, which conducted 108.
China’s cost-reduction push
China’s Long March 10B is being designed to achieve a 30% cost reduction over expendable Long March rockets, officials noted. Current Long March launch costs range between $30 million and $70 million per mission, depending on the configuration. If the Long March 10B succeeds, it could allow China to compete directly for commercial satellite launches — a segment currently dominated by SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
Several Chinese entities are developing reusable rockets. The state-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation, known as CASIC, is working on its own reusable designs.
Private firms LandSpace and Galactic Energy are also in the field. The company said these efforts aim to lower barriers to orbit for both domestic and international customers.
Infrastructure ambitions
Lower launch costs could enable more frequent missions for China’s BeiDou navigation system, which was completed in 2020 with 30 satellites. The country also has plans for a massive broadband constellation called Guowang, which aims for 13,000 satellites. Achieving that scale will require frequent, low-cost launches — exactly the kind of economics that reusable rockets promise.
The competition is not just about technology. It is about access to the commercial launch market, which has long been dominated by Western providers.
China’s 67 orbital missions in 2023 show its growing capacity, but the gap in commercial launch contracts remains wide. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 conducted 96 launches that year, many of them for commercial customers.
What to watch next
The development timelines for China’s reusable rockets will determine how quickly the competitive landscape shifts. If the Long March 10B and private Chinese launchers enter service within the next few years, the global launch market could see a significant price war. For Central Asian economies watching the space sector, the key question is whether lower costs will open new opportunities for satellite-based services — from agriculture monitoring to broadband connectivity — or simply concentrate launch business in the hands of a few dominant players.