Japan’s space agency JAXA successfully flew and landed its RV-X test vehicle on 11 July, a 40-second hover-and-translate manoeuvre at the Noshiro centre that reached 11 metres altitude. The test, livestreamed by enthusiasts, was described by project manager Takashi Ito as having “obtained very useful data”. One day earlier, China’s Long March-10B placed a satellite into orbit and recovered its first stage on a seaborne platform using a net-capture system — a world first, according to the China National Space Administration. Both events mark the arrival of new competitors in a field where SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has set the commercial benchmark since 2017.

The mechanism driving this push is straightforward: the first stage accounts for the largest share of launch costs, and partial reusability can slash per-mission expenses. JAXA’s RV-X, a 7.3-metre prototype burning liquid hydrogen, is a precursor to the larger Callisto vehicle being co-developed with France and Germany; a higher-altitude test to about 100 metres is planned. China’s Long March-10B, a 63-metre two-stage rocket, uses a net-based recovery system that eliminates landing legs, reducing structural weight and, according to engineers at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, increasing payload capacity. The net system, deployed on a 144-metre platform, captures the stage after a six-minute return sequence involving engine braking and aerodynamic deceleration.

Viewed from Tokyo, the test is a step toward a lower-cost successor to the single-use H3 series, which the government considers essential for both commercial competitiveness and national security. In Beijing, state media framed the Long March-10B recovery as a breakthrough that could challenge US dominance, with plans to refly the stage by year-end. The dual-use character of such technologies is not lost on regional observers. A separate Chinese oceanographic survey east of Taiwan in mid-June, officially a marine biodiversity study, gathered bathymetric, temperature and salinity data that US naval strategists note can refine acoustic models for submarine operations and anti-submarine warfare. The Xiang Yang Hong 22 operated in deep waters where submarines can more easily evade sonar, and analysts at the US Naval War College and the China Maritime Studies Institute assess that such missions routinely support military requirements.

The convergence of reusable rocketry and maritime data collection illustrates a broader pattern of technological competition in the Indo-Pacific. China’s first successful reusable landing and Japan’s hover test occurred as Beijing also conducted an ICBM test from a submarine into the South Pacific, drawing protests from Australia, Japan and New Zealand. Washington has called for prior notification of such launches. The next factual milestones to watch are JAXA’s planned higher-altitude RV-X flight and the scheduled launch of the Callisto demonstrator from French Guiana before April 2027, alongside China’s stated intention to refly the recovered Long March-10B stage within months.