On July 10, China launched the Long March 10B rocket from Launch Complex 2 at the Wenchang Commercial Space Launch Site in Hainan.

The flight placed the upper stage into Earth orbit and recovered the first stage booster using a cable‑capture system on the Linghanzhe recovery ship.

Long March 10B is a two‑stage rocket with a reusable first stage powered by kerosene and oxygen and a second stage that uses methane and oxygen.

The vehicle was developed by the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, a unit of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, and is intended to support China’s crewed lunar program.

The rocket lifted off at 12:15 p.m. local time.

After stage separation, the first stage used grid fins to steer through the atmosphere and relit a YF‑100K engine before descending into a wire cradle suspended from the Linghanzhe ship.

The booster engaged four small hooks that caught the ship’s cables, suspending it mid‑air.

The payload on the first flight is not confirmed and may have been a mass simulator.

SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has been the only orbital booster to achieve a propulsive landing.

In 2024, SpaceX’s Super Heavy booster was first caught by crane arms on its launch tower, and Blue Origin’s New Glenn achieved two safe landings in 2025 and 2026.

Earlier Chinese attempts with the Long March 12 and the LandSpace Zhuque‑3 rockets did not succeed.

State media said the recovered 10B booster will be reflown before the end of the year.

The first stage design of 10B is shared with the Long March 10, which will support the Mengzhou crew capsule and the Lanyue lunar lander in upcoming crewed lunar missions.

A test flight of the Long March 10A booster performed a soft landing in February 2026.

NASA officials have described the developments as part of a renewed competition between the United States and China in space exploration.

The Artemis program aims to land humans on the Moon, but its commercial lander component remains a challenge.

The Long March 10B mission demonstrates continued progress in China’s reusable launch system capabilities.

Space startups are receiving large amounts of venture capital despite limited prior space experience. Recent examples include a Los Angeles‑based company founded by a scooter entrepreneur that raised $5 million to deploy 100,000 orbital data centers, and a lunar lander operator that reached a $2 billion valuation within two years of its founding.

Analysts note that while hiring talent from established firms such as SpaceX and United Launch Alliance can provide heritage, building credible launch capability still requires extensive development time and proven reliability. The scarcity of launch slots and SpaceX’s dominant market position have driven investors to fund multiple ventures before they have tested hardware.

Established operators such as SES and Eutelsat have responded by partnering with newer companies. SES agreed to use an orbital transfer vehicle from Impulse Space for a 2027 satellite, and has partnered with K2 Space, Lynk Global and others to integrate new constellations. Eutelsat, after appointing former telecommunications executives, has expanded into low‑Earth‑orbit broadband through its acquisition of OneWeb and is exploring hosted payloads for Earth observation.

Industry observers caution that the rapid influx of capital may create a hype cycle, yet some of the newer firms have secured contracts with government and defense customers. The long‑term viability of these ventures will depend on their ability to demonstrate reliable performance and to integrate with legacy infrastructure.

The trend reflects a broader shift in the space sector, where large public operators balance the excitement of innovative startups with the need for proven heritage and regulatory access.

SpaceX launched 24 Starlink V2 Mini satellites on a Falcon 9 rocket from Vandenberg Space Force Base on July 10, 2026. The mission added another 24 broadband internet satellites to the company’s low Earth orbit constellation, which now exceeds 10,700 spacecraft.

Liftoff from Space Launch Complex 4 East occurred at 8:01 p.m. PDT (11:01 p.m. EDT, 0301 UTC). The Falcon 9 first‑stage booster, tail number B1071, completed its 35th flight after supporting NASA’s SWOT mission, five National Reconnaissance Office missions and five SmallSat Rideshare Program missions. After more than eight minutes of flight, the booster landed on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You in the Pacific Ocean, marking the 209th landing for that vessel and the 636th landing for SpaceX.

SpaceX confirmed the deployment of the satellites after liftoff.

Eurospace said its latest Facts and Figures report, presented on July 7, 2025, showed European space industry sales rising in 2025 after a decline in 2024. Military procurement of Earth observation satellites has become the largest revenue‑producing sector in the European space industry. Satellite applications, which include operational activities for Earth observation, telecommunications and navigation, grew 23.5% compared with 2023. Launcher systems have not shown significant growth, Pierre Lionnet, managing director of Eurospace, said during the briefing. Earth observation system manufacturing sales exceeded telecommunication system sales by 24% in 2025, Lionnet added. The shift is driven primarily by increasing military demand for Earth observation systems, he said, noting that Spain, France, Germany, Poland and Finland registered the highest demand. Professional services, encompassing technical assistance, financial assistance, engineering, system development and innovation road mapping, have also shown steady growth as national and European agencies outsource more activities to industry, Lionnet said. ESA remained the industry’s largest customer, with revenues increasing by 560 million euros (+20%) from 2024 to 2025, supported by policy and strategy reforms that allow faster spending within the agency. Commercial export sales, which include components, equipment, development systems, launcher elements and complete satellites sold to private entities outside Europe, grew by roughly 35% since 2024, according to the report. Full spacecraft systems and equipment, such as launch fairings and deployment systems, accounted for about half of the export growth and are linked to worldwide launch activity and Amazon’s LEO constellation deployment. Institutional programs continued to represent more than 70% of total industry revenues, indicating that Europe’s space economy remains largely government‑driven. The report also noted that seven Ariane 6 and Vega C launches occurred in 2025 compared with three in 2024, creating major business opportunities for the European supply chain and boosting revenues from launch system deliveries, Lionnet said.

City Labs launched its BOHR (Betavoltaic Orbital High-Reliability) cubesat on July 7 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-17 rideshare mission, marking the first in-orbit demonstration of its NanoTritium betavoltaic power system. The mission aims to assess whether the system can generate electricity without sunlight over extended periods, a capability that could support spacecraft operating in deep space, permanently shadowed lunar regions, or other environments where solar power is limited. The demonstration is partially funded by NASA and Department of Defense contracts, reflecting government interest in alternative space power sources that can keep satellites and sensor networks functional for longer durations. City Labs develops betavoltaic batteries that use tritium, a radioactive isotope of hydrogen, to convert decay energy directly into small amounts of electricity measured in microwatts, making the technology unsuitable for primary satellite power but potentially valuable for continuously operating low-power payloads. The BOHR cubesat uses conventional solar arrays for its bus operations while the NanoTritium unit powers the payload under evaluation, allowing the test to isolate the performance of the nuclear power source. The launch follows the Federal Aviation Administration’s approval process for spacecraft carrying radioactive material under National Security Presidential Memorandum-20, a framework that enables commercial missions with such payloads. Company officials said the system is designed to operate at low radiation levels and to be safe for handling, transport, and integration with commercial launch vehicles. The BOHR mission builds on private investment and support from the Pentagon’s Operational Energy Innovation Directorate, the Air Force Research Laboratory’s AFWERX program, NASA, and SpaceWERX. City Labs plans a 2027 in-orbit demonstration of a tritium-powered Radioisotope Heater Unit, which generates heat rather than electricity, to support long-duration lunar surface operations. While radioisotope power has been used for decades on NASA deep-space probes, commercial entities have largely avoided the field due to technical, regulatory and safety considerations. An RHU is used to keep spacecraft components, batteries and scientific instruments from freezing during periods without sunlight, such as the lunar night or permanently shadowed craters. The company’s approach offers a commercial alternative to the plutonium-based RHUs currently relied on by NASA.

A nearly complete Tyrannosaurus rex fossil named Gus will be auctioned by Sotheby’s on Tuesday, with a pre‑sale valuation of $30 million and a minimum bid of $19 million, potentially making it the most expensive dinosaur ever sold. The auction reflects growing interest from wealthy collectors in rare prehistoric specimens and raises questions about the allocation of scientifically important fossils. The specimen, discovered in the Badlands of South Dakota in 2018 and named after rancher Gary “Gus” Licking, represents about 61 % of the skeleton and includes a large bite mark and healed broken ribs that inform about the animal’s life. Excavation took three years in the field and three additional years of laboratory work to document and reconstruct the bones. Independent palaeontologist Dr Fiann Smithwick said the fossil’s completeness makes it a major scientific find, while Sotheby’s global head of natural history, Cassandra Hatton, noted that the price reflects the time, expense and risk of recovery. Prof Susannah Maidment of the Natural History Museum in London warned that the increasing market value may limit museum access to such specimens, which are essential for research on anatomy and for understanding past ecosystems in the context of current biodiversity loss. She emphasized that real fossils provide the only empirical data for studying mass extinctions and environmental change. The auction record for a dinosaur stands at $44.6 million for a Stegosaurus named Apex sold in 2024, which was 11 times its pre‑sale estimate. Several of the most expensive dinosaur sales have occurred since 2020, including the T. rex “Stan” sold for $31.8 million in 2020. Museum representatives say they are often priced out of acquiring such specimens, raising concerns about the preservation of scientific heritage. The outcome of the Gus auction will indicate whether scientific institutions can retain access to key fossils or if private ownership will dominate the market for important paleontological specimens.

Today's puzzle series includes a prize draw and presents challenges that use deceptive numbers and sounds. The first challenge, titled 'Super syllabus,' asks participants to identify hidden patterns in the data. Organizers said the event is meant to test analytical thinking while providing entertainment. Additional puzzles will be released later this week.