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May 3, 2021
by Matt Williams, Universe Today
Last weekend in Nanjing, China celebrated its sixth « National Space Day, » an event that highlights the progress China has made in space. Similar to Space Day, which happens on the first Thursday in May each year (May 7th this year), the aim is to fuel interest in space exploration and the STEMS to inspire the next generation of astronauts and astronauts in Air – and space engineers.
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This year, the celebrations focused on the Chang’e-5 mission (which showed some of the returned moon samples) and the name of China’s first Mars rover (Zhurong), which will land on the Red Planet later this month . Another interesting clip was a video from one of China’s major rocket manufacturers showing that they were working on a rocket that resembled the spaceship.
The video, entitled « One Hour Global Space Transportation System Arrival, » was from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) – one of the country’s most important state-owned rocket manufacturers. Similar to what Musk and SpaceX proposed for the spaceship, the video explores the potential of missile systems that could provide suborbital point-to-point transport services.
The animation was recorded and uploaded to the Chinese social network Weibo, published by The following description was accompanied (translated directly from Mandarin).
« The promotional animation of the ‘One-Hour Global Arrival in Space Transportation System’ of the First Academy of Aerospace Engineering, compare? This afternoon was from [Chinese Astronomy Day 2021] Booth of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology recorded at the Aerospace Industry Achievement exhibition. If you would like to make an appointment to visit the lunar country, please go to the bottom of this blog. «
In the video we see two different concepts for suborbital passenger flights that could be operational by 2040. Eric Berger from Ars Technica drew attention to the video, which it mirrored on Youtube in order to reach a wider audience. The animation begins by showing a spaceport with several launch ramps nearby. On each we see two-stage vertical launch and landing missiles (VTOL) that look strikingly similar to the spaceship and the super heavy.
Similar to the spaceship is also the way the booster of the first stage is used after the separation Earth is returning, indicating that it is a fully reusable system. We then see passengers enjoying the view of Earth and experiencing temporary weightlessness before the spaceship begins a motorized descent. The flight ends with the spacecraft landing in a large city that is clearly several time zones away (since it is night where they will land).
In addition to its appearance and configuration, the animation is also similar to the « Earth to Earth » concept video, that SpaceX released in September 2017 (see below). In this animation, a spaceship carries passengers off a platform at sea off the coast of New York and lands on a similar platform off the coast of Shanghai in just 34 minutes.
The second point-to-point concept in the Chinese animation shows a horizontal take-off and landing vehicle (HTOL) that is launched via an electromagnetic rail. Once this « space plane » is catapulted into the air, it engages what appears to be a hybrid rocket engine to accelerate from Mach 2 to Mach 15 (supersonic to hypersonic) and achieve suborbital flight.
Both concepts involve technologies and Ideas that are currently prevalent in both space agencies and commercial real estate. Several reusable rocket and spacecraft concepts are currently being developed between NASA, ESA, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada, Reaction Engines, and other federal and private programs. Additionally, both are in line with China’s long-term goal of 2045 to become the world’s leading space power. According to the roadmap released in 2017 by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, China hopes to develop a « suborbital launch vehicle » by 2025 that will eventually become a fleet capable of carrying cargo anywhere in the world by 2035 and passengers by 2045. </ p However, the clear similarity between the CALT missile concept and the spaceship also corresponds to the way China has monitored SpaceX's progress practically from the start. As Eric Berger noted in his recently published book Liftoff, which describes SpaceX's early battles, a Chinese spy boat was stationed off the coast of Omelek Island (part of the Marshall Islands in the South Pacific) in 2006 to observe the maiden flight of the Falcon 1 .
More recent examples are the installation of « grid fins » in the Long March 2C rocket (similar to the Falcon 9) for future reusability and the development of the Long March 8 for landing on sea platforms. China’s long-term plan for the long March 9th – which will be the most powerful heavy-duty system in the country once it goes into operation (slated for the 2030s) – is that it will be partially reusable.
Meanwhile, it’s not clear whether China plans to develop a spacecraft-like rocket to equip it for missions to the moon and Mars (in addition to point-to-point suborbital flights). But since regular missions to the moon and Mars were also part of the roadmap, it is entirely possible that China intends to adopt the design and mission profile of the spaceship in its entirety.
One thing is certain: China wants to be by the middle of the 21st century to be the superpower in space and not just one of several. While they still have some catching up to do before that can happen, their rate of growth is unprecedented.
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