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China Plans to One Up NASA's SLS With the Long March-9

posted by Fnord666 on Tuesday July 03 2018, @01:24AM   Printer-friendly
from the just-over-the-next-hill dept.

takyon writes:

China has big plans for its massive new rocket

Researchers are developing a rocket that would be more powerful than any U.S. spacecraft, Chinese state media reported Monday. Phys.org reports that the Long March-9 rocket, set to be complete by 2030, would be capable of delivering 140 tons into low orbit.

NASA's upcoming Space Launch System, meanwhile, aims to deliver 130 tons, and the Falcon Heavy from SpaceX launched 64 tons toward Mars earlier this year. China is reportedly hoping to surpass its American and European competitors, planning to spend billions of dollars developing its space programs.

Full reusability for the Long March-9 is not mentioned.

Long March rocket family.

As a point of comparison, the Saturn V rocket:

The Saturn V was launched 13 times from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with no loss of crew or payload. As of 2018, the Saturn V remains the tallest, heaviest, and most powerful (highest total impulse) rocket ever brought to operational status, and holds records for the heaviest payload launched and largest payload capacity to low Earth orbit (LEO) of 140,000 kg (310,000 lb), which included the third stage and unburned propellant needed to send the Apollo Command/Service Module and Lunar Module to the Moon.[5][6]

Related: China Launches Long March-6 Rocket
Chinese Long March-5 Rocket Launch Fails
China Will Open its New Space Station to International Partners

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @02:31AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday July 03 2018, @02:31AM (#701698)

    Dug up this article https://www.wired.com/2014/11/ship-f1-car-across-globe-36-hours/ [wired.com] which talks about the logistics behind Formula 1. Teams ship their two cars and a lot of spares/tools/etc to the races:

    The cars may get the most care, but there are several dozen tons of equipment to be packed and shipped. Each team carries enough spare parts to rebuild their cars, 40 sets of tires, 2,500 liters of fuel, 200 liters of motor oil and 90 liters of coolant. And then there are the tools. And the computers. And enough food to make as many as 200 meals, plus all the stuff needed to prepare those meals. And... and... the list goes on. All told, the biggest teams may be hauling as much as 50 tons of gear, and even the smallest outfits are schlepping 30 tons of stuff.

    It takes between three and six hours for the teams to pack it all up. Then it's all handed over to DHL, which has to get everything to the next city. That's no less complicated. A fleet of seven jumbo jets does the bulk of the work, flying stuff, in some cases, halfway around the world. A fleet of trucks hauls it all from the airport to the track, which can be a matter of minutes in the case of Malaysia or a few hours in the case of Brazil. When the action is in Europe, where there are shorter distances between tracks, DHL will truck stuff instead.

    In round numbers, this big rocket could hoist three F1 teams to orbit...

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday July 03 2018, @02:41AM

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday July 03 2018, @02:41AM (#701702) Journal

    In round numbers, this big rocket could hoist three F1 teams to orbit...

    You just want to test an F1 against Musk's Tesla. The Tesla has a long head start, you better get started!