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China

China Reveals a New Heavy Lift Rocket That Is a Clone of SpaceX's Starship (arstechnica.com) 20

Ars Technica's Eric Berger reports: When Chinese space officials unveiled the design for the country's first super heavy lift rocket nearly a decade ago, it looked like a fairly conventional booster. The rocket was fully expendable, with three stages and solid motors strapped onto its sides. Since then, the Asian country has been revising the design of this rocket, named Long March 9, in response to the development of reusable rockets by SpaceX. As of two years ago, China had recalibrated the design to have a reusable first stage. Now, based on information released at a major airshow in Zhuhai, China, the design has morphed again. And this time, the plan for the Long March 9 rocket looks almost exactly like a clone of SpaceX's Starship rocket.

Based on its latest specifications, the Long March 9 rocket will have a fully reusable first stage powered by 30 YF-215 engines, which are full-flow staged combustion engines fueled by methane and liquid oxygen, each with a thrust of approximately 200 tons. By way of comparison, Starship's first stage is powered by 33 Raptor engines, also fueled with methane and liquid oxygen, each with a thrust of about 280 tons. The new specifications also include a fully reusable configuration of the rocket, with an upper stage that looks eerily similar to Starship's second stage, complete with flaps in a similar location. According to a presentation at the airshow, China intends to fly this vehicle for the first time in 2033, nearly a decade from now.
Last week, Chinese space startup Cosmoleap announced plans to develop a fully reusable "Leap" rocket with the next few years. "An animated video that accompanied the funding announcement indicated that the company seeks to emulate the tower catch-with-chopsticks methodology that SpaceX successfully employed during Starship's fifth flight test last month," reports Ars.

China Reveals a New Heavy Lift Rocket That Is a Clone of SpaceX's Starship

Comments Filter:
  • it's not fair, it never was, to the people at the top, this looks like us versus them and they don't lose, these things go as far as they can

    i'm tired of being manipulated by you /.

    • by 2TecTom ( 311314 )

      people can't just post anonymously anymore, that's total bs

      • Swastika man ruined it for everyone.
  • by Freischutz ( 4776131 ) on Wednesday November 06, 2024 @05:53AM (#64923719)

    China Reveals a New Heavy Lift Rocket That Is a Clone of SpaceX's Starship

    Clone? Last time I looked 'clone' meant an exact component for component copy. That does not look like an exact slavish copy unless Musk has obtained an insanely broad patent on cylindrically shaped launch vehicles with a rounded pointy nose section fins on sides and rocket engines at the back end and if somebody wants to point at the canards as evidence of 'cloning', the concept of canard control surfaces have been around since the Wright Flyer in 1903 which was literally the first aircraft capable of sustained flight.

  • Will they start making mini flame throwers, digging tunnels under Vegas and producing the ugliest truck ever conceived?!

    If they make an ugly af truck he should definitely sue! "There can be ... only one!" *lightning and thunder*

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