Seems they are following spacex. I thought some people were saying space starship is not really viable per se? If so, does it really make sense for China to follow their example?
Will sea landing be smoother than landing on ground, no?
China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
They only launched a small amount of LM5s because there was no demand for it not because they can't produce more of it. Plus LM10 is going to share quite alot of common parts with LM5, it's likely that they have been scaling up LM5 production to prep for LM10.
Depends on what you want to do. A fully reusable two stage SHLV can vastly reduce cost to LEO which makes it a very valuable asset as a space truck for low orbit constellations.
There's also talk of using CZ-9 as a launcher for crew mars and space solar missions.
But longer term, I don't see how they don't move to an Earth-Moon L1/L2 architecture involving refueling depots post 2030. It is a fundamentally game changing technology that allows them to do those missions by opening up the option of mining raw materials and rocket fuel (water ice) from deep space instead of launching directly from the Earth's surface.
The key to understanding this is that going to EML1 from Earth is easier than going to GSO because you have to circularize the orbit from GTO. What does this mean? Instead of launching space solar farms from Earth, you mine resources and manufacture them in space and deliver them to GSO.
And the great news is this is all basically within reach. CZ-5 and 10's upper stage for example can loiter in space to act as a tug or depot if it is fitted with an auxilary power unit to provide the pressurization and RCS (instead of using the helium and hydrazine bottles) and to power the cryo boiloff system. ULA's Centaur V and Ariane 6 upper stages are currently being upgraded to have some of these capabilities. CZ-10 should do the same.
I don't think they are planning to exclusively use long march 5, the previous launch (the 2nd batch of guowang satellites) was carried by long march 8. The first set was also carried by long march 5 but yes it's unlikely long march 5 can maintain the very high launch tempo necessary for the currently advertised guowang timeline. So it seems pretty obvious at some point it will be mostly other rockets carrying them.
Nonetheless the currently advertised guowang timeline is probably unachievable as there seems to be delays in making reusable rockets or rockets that can launch at a high tempo. So the whole timeline will probably need to be shifted back at least a year, maybe a few years.
LM5 is just a temporary rocket for Guowang satellite constellation..
this responsibility will take over by Zhuque-3 heavy rocket.. first flight expected in third quarter of this year. they specifically mentioned Guowang satellite constellation and heavy payload in LEO..
Zhuque-3 will also carry new reusable Haolong Cargo space shuttle built by the Chengdu Aircraft Design Institute.
even if not reusable for now, 5-7 flights per year would be enough to sustain operations.
It's hard to say. We do know they missed their self imposed 2024 target of ~100 launches mostly due to civilian side not being able to keep up. The satellite constellations also seem behind at this point. In my opinion the constellation timelines were probably too aggressive and the rocket makers need more time. So we will see how this goes.
That has been the idea for large scale space industrialization for decades IMO
stainless steel is better than aluminium for 2nd stage reusability due to its specific strengh, that is all. Viability of a rocket archetecture for various types of mission is a totally different matter. It makes perfect sense for China to learn something that is scientifically sound and proven, it makes no sense to follow anyone blindly.