As SpaceX prepares to flight test its Starship and NASA and Boeing have successfully flown the SLS, China is developing a super-heavy launch vehicle. Although its first flight is not expected before 2030, the CZ-9 is a sign of very high ambitions in manned exploration.
In February 2021, China announced the development of launcherlauncher super-heavy CZ-9 (Long March 9)capable of sending humans to the LuneLune and on Mars. A few days ago, Gu Mingkun, head of launch vehicles at the Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, the main manufacturer of rocketsrockets of the country, revealed new information and specified that he ” it will be a partially reusable three-stage launcher 10 meters in diameter and 110 meters high “. Once this launcher is in service, its transport capacity will be more than five times greater than that of Long March 5, the currently most powerful rocket in China. Its first flight is scheduled for 2030.
On the performance side, Gu Mingkun confirmed that the CZ-9 will be able to send some 50 tons of payload for lunar missions such as the constructionconstruction of a habitable outpost or the infrastructure necessary for mining. Unsurprisingly, this launcher will be used to send men to Mars during the 2030s, with a carrying capacity of more than 40 tons. In this area, China is particularly ambitious as it plans a first manned mission from 2033 followed by three others at the rate of one every 26 months (2035, 2037 and 2041).
The manned exploration launcher
Gu Mingkun took advantage of this media release to unveil a new launcher derived from the CZ-9 and designed for manned flightsmanned flights in orbitorbit low and carrying heavy loads. This two-stage launcher would be capable of carrying 50 to 150 tons into low orbit depending on whether it is equipped with boosters or not. These two launchers will have the main stage in common, which will be reusable. In total, the CZ-9 could give birth to a family of four very high-capacity launchers. Studies also tend to think that China could consider making a launcher with an architecture similar to the Falcon Heavy of SpaceXSpaceX and at Delta IV HeavyDelta IV Heavy of United Launch Alliance whose main stage will consist of three main stages of the CZ-9.
With these two launchers, China is consolidating its ambitions in the field of manned exploration, from low orbit to the Moon andlunar outpostslunar outposts to March. With new technologies to acquire (reuse, composite materials, electronics, etc.), China is working to catch up with or equal its technological lag on the United States, and even to exceed certain American capacities in space.
Article of Daniel ChristianDaniel Christian published on 27/11/2022
It was speculative until now, now it’s official. China has opted for a new design of its Long March 9 lunar rocket, including reuse. A first model was exhibited as a model during the large exhibition of theairair and from the space of Zhuhai, in the south of the country, about ten days ago.
The rocket that will take the first Chinese astronauts to the Moon will therefore be reusable. Its design has been confirmed by a CALT official, China Academy of Launch vehicle Technology, on Chinese TV on November 7.
The old design matched that of the Long March 5, but bigger. The LM-5 is the most powerful Chinese rocket in exercise. She was the one who sent the lunar sample recovery mission into space. Chang’e 5Chang’e 5the martian missionmartian mission Tianwen-1, or even the modules of the new chinese space stationchinese space station. The old version had a central body equipped with new engines, accompanied by several side boosters with liquid propulsion which were only central bodies of the Long March 5! The new reusable design adopted is radically different.
The chosen design is a three-story mega-rocket, measuring 108 meters high and 10 meters in diameter! The super-heavy launcher would weigh 4,180 tons and would therefore be more powerful than the SLS Block 1. It could carry in payload:
- 150 tonnes for low orbit;
- 50 tons for the transfer orbit to the Moon;
- 35 tons for the transfer orbit to Mars.
The mockup on display in Zhuhai suggests that only the first stage would be reusable, unlike SpaceX’s Starship. We see it equipped with grid finsaerodynamic guide grids essential to control atmospheric re-entry.
The weak Chinese experience of reusable
The choice may surprise. So far, no reusable Chinese rocket has flown. There exists a myriadmyriad of projects. CALT has already flown the Long March 8 rocket several times, a “reusable” version of the LM-7, a rocket used in particular to send cargo ships to the Chinese station. However, the current version of the LM-8 is not reusable and is just used to test the launcher architecture. Moreover, China lacks experience in atmospheric re-entry.
The Long March 9 is expected to take off in 2030, the year in which China’s first lunar flight is due to take place according to an official schedule, which is currently not updated. If the engine tests of the LM-9 have just started, such a radical design change will inevitably lead to delays.
(embed)https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUgPkkp-yNo(/embed)
Long March 9, the Chinese moon rocket. © YouTube
