When Chinese space officials unveiled the design of China’s first superheavy rocket nearly a decade ago, it looked like a fairly traditional booster. The rocket was fully expendable, with three stages and a sturdy motor strapped to the side.
Since then, China has modified the design of this rocket, named Long March 9, in response to SpaceX’s development of a reusable rocket. As of 2 years agoChina has reworked the design to have a reusable first stage.
Now, the design has been revised again based on information revealed at a major air show in Zhuhai. And this time, the plans for the Long March 9 rocket look almost identical to SpaceX’s Starship rocket replica.
This looks familiar
According to the latest specifications, the Long March 9 rocket will have a fully reusable first stage powered by 30 YF-215 engines. These engines are all-flow combustion engines fueled by methane and liquid oxygen, each with a thrust of approximately 200 tons. For comparison, Starship’s first stage is powered by 33 Raptor engines, also fueled by methane and liquid oxygen, and each engine has a thrust of approximately 280 tons.
The new specifications also include a fully reusable rocket configuration, with an upper stage that closely resembles the Starship’s second stage, with flaps in similar positions. China plans to fly the vehicle for the first time in 2033, almost a decade from now, according to an air show presentation.
In related news, last week, Chinese semi-private space startup Cosmoleap launched announced plans A fully reusable “Leap” rocket is expected to be developed within the next few years. An animated video accompanying the funding announcement indicates that the company is trying to emulate the tower chopstick catch methodology successfully employed by SpaceX during Starship’s fifth flight test last month.
Let’s think about reality for a moment. This is not the first time that China’s rocket program has imitated SpaceX, as when Space Pioneer planned its development. falcon 9 clone. Both the state-run rocket agency and the company’s private industry are emulating SpaceX’s best practices to keep up. At this point, China’s launch industry is basically waiting in the SpaceX waiting room to see what ideas to swipe next.
The real race begins to unfold
Of course, it’s nothing new for Chinese industry to try to copy, or in some cases steal, the ideas of its Western competitors. Fortunately, China’s space industry recognizes that the future of spaceflight is fully reusable, and even state-owned enterprises are reorienting toward that outcome.
In contrast, U.S. policymakers seem determined to force NASA to continue building ultra-expensive and expendable Space Launch System rockets for decades. This consumes NASA budget that could be used for the kind of technological advancements that could put the U.S. civilian space program ahead of China’s.
NASA and the Chinese space agency are currently engaged in a second space race, with the two countries building an international alliance to explore the moon’s south polar region and ultimately build a settlement there. Winning this race is critical to long-term space ambitions because real estate near Antarctica (especially near craters where ice is likely to be present) is relatively limited.
China plans to use a more traditional rocket, the Long March 10 rocket, for its initial lunar mission. These initial attacks last only a few days. China is counting on the much more powerful and reusable Long March 9 to support more lunar operations.
So if the ultimate goal is to develop a lunar settlement, the real winner is not the country or space agency that puts astronauts on the surface first. It is the first country to develop a fully reusable superheavy rocket and fund a program to harness this revolutionary capability. Given that Starship is flying, the United States is currently leading the race.
But the race has not yet been won by any means, and the latest design of the Long March 9 indicates that China knows where the finish line is.
This story originally appeared on: Ars Technica.
