China finalizes the design of the Long March 9, its new mega-rocket to compete against Elon Musk’s Starship

2023-04-23 01:13:46

That China does not want to be left behind in the new space race is a fact: the first blow on the table was given when it managed to land a human rover on the hidden side of the Moon – the only one, for the moment – in the first days of 2019 ; two years later it did the same, but this time on the Red Planet, being the third power to have a presence on the Martian surface; and, parallel to all this and in record time, it has managed to build its own fully operational space station, Tianhe (heavenly palace).

And the Asian giant’s ambition will not stop there: like NASA’s Artemis Program, it wants to create permanent bases on the Moon, for which it has partnered with Russia with the aim of creating a transportation facility, a research and ground support infrastructures. And, to get everything you need – including astronauts – to the surface of our satellite, you need a huge rocket, in the style of Elon Musk’s Starship. He is also working on it.

Specifically, it is the Long March 9, the evolution of the controversial Long March 5, which caused episodes of global alert when parts of its already huge pieces re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere in an uncontrolled way, even causing the closure of the airspace of certain countries. like Spain. But there will not be just one Long March 9, but three models of different sizes with a load capacity of up to 165 tons, something more than the basic capacity of the Starship, which will reach 150 tons (although they are expandable up to 250), and on top of previous rockets such as the Soviet N1 (which, after two failed tests, was withdrawn and replaced by the more modest version called Energia), SpaceX’s Falcon heavy or even NASA’s SLS Block 2 intended only for cargo.

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Not the tallest, yes the widest

It will not be the tallest rocket: at 93 meters high (110 in its largest version), it is below the Starship (120 meters) or the Saturn V (110 meters), which carried the astronauts of the Apollo Program to the Moon. . However, it will be the widest: with a diameter of ten meters, it surpasses Musk’s prototype (which reaches nine) and NASA’s SLS of the Artemis Program (8.4 meters). In addition, the intention is that it be fully reusable, which, in theory, would end the controversial uncontrolled reentries. This means a change with respect to the initial plan, since at first it was explained that this rocket would be disposable – like all those created to date, except for Falcon 9 and the future Starship, both from SpaceX.

All Long March 9 rockets will use Longyun engines, which are fueled by liquid methane and oxygen, though they are less powerful than the Raptors that lift Musk’s ships. The smallest Chinese rocket is expected to use five of these engines, the medium from seven to nine and the large up to 22, 11 fewer than the Starship first stage.

At the moment, China has presented the storage tank. “It has taken more than 6 years to complete the entire development chain and the work of 20 groups of engineers,” Hu Zhenggen, a researcher at the Beijing Institute of Aerospace Propulsion Institute and deputy chief designer of the Long March 9, explained in a statement. China Rocket Academy.

Storage tank of the Long March 9, 10 meters in diameter

China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology

The difficulty was not only doubling the size of the tank, but it has been quite a challenge to come up with a stage so wide that it has to be much more resistant, but at the same time light to minimize the total weight. “The challenge has not been small,” Zhenggen noted. China thus becomes the third country, behind Russia and the United States, to have an ultra-large storage tank.

The Chinese plan also involves developing a new manned vehicle that is expected to be ready by 2027. Initially, this ship will carry taikonauts (Chinese astronauts) to its space station, but later it is expected to be the method of transport to leave crews on the Moon. “In the future, having heavy pitchers will be an everyday thing. At that time, our country’s ability to go into space independently will take a big step, and the pace of the Chinese people’s space exploration will also accelerate more and more,” Zhenggen said. A whole declaration of intent, without a doubt.