00:00China has landed an orbital-class rocket booster for the first time in a major breakthrough.
00:06The Long March 10B was captured using a cable recovery system, technology unique to China's space programme.
00:13It puts the country one step closer to developing reusable rockets, opening up access to space.
00:20Dara Patel is from the UK's National Space Centre.
00:24So we see perhaps more so now in present day rockets launching all the time.
00:30But actually most rockets are what we call expendable.
00:33So once they've used their fuel, those parts break away and they end up disintegrating, falling back to the Earth.
00:40And what that means is that every time we want to launch something, we have to build a brand new
00:44rocket.
00:45So now we're looking at the realm of reusability, where actually you're bringing back certain stages of a rocket.
00:52And in this case, what we've seen for the first time today is China actually demonstrating reusability and bringing back
01:00what is known as an orbital-class vehicle.
01:02So a rocket that is capable of taking payloads and satellites into Earth orbit.
01:08And so reusability, as you describe it, is considered an absolute game-changer, is it, in terms of modern spaceflight?
01:16I guess it's coming down to costs, is it?
01:19One of the main driving factors is actually reusability means that you can bring down the cost of having to,
01:26you know,
01:27create an entire rocket from scratch to then launch your next payload.
01:30But it also does help improve the cadence with which you can launch.
01:34So rather than having to wait until you have built a new rocket to launch your next satellite or wherever
01:41you're taking into space,
01:42you can actually reuse what's already been brought back so you've already got part of your rocket ready to go.
01:48And I'm guessing this is environmentally better.
01:51This is greener rather than having all that debris, that space junk, floating around.
01:57Yeah, so, you know, when we talk about space and launching, you know,
02:01I always use the phrase that you can't make an omelette without cracking a few eggs.
02:04So there's always going to be a little bit of waste that we think about.
02:08And actually, even burning some of the fuels that we use in rockets aren't particularly great for the environment.
02:13But actually, in this sense, having a reusable aspect to your vehicle means that we are creating less debris
02:19that is then polluting the Earth or low Earth orbit where some of that kind of rockets and the rocket
02:26stages end up.
02:28We'll see you next time.
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