China's Space Program News Thread

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Temstar

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Apparently this is something being considered for the Tengyun spaceplane - an electromagnetic catapult launch system running from 2000m to 3000m above sea level, perhaps built on the Tibetan Plateau. The spacecraft would be at 3000m above sea level and between mach 2-3 at the business end.

One would imagine this means the turbojet part of the TRRE could then be eliminated. Looks like this proposal is then intended to allow SSTO rather than the two stage design.
 

gelgoog

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Apparently this is something being considered for the Tengyun spaceplane - an electromagnetic catapult launch system running from 2000m to 3000m above sea level, perhaps built on the Tibetan Plateau. The spacecraft would be at 3000m above sea level and between mach 2-3 at the business end.

One would imagine this means the turbojet part of the TRRE could then be eliminated. Looks like this proposal is then intended to allow SSTO rather than the two stage design.

Mach 2-3? That would be non-trivial to build to say the least. As an example none of the high-speed rail prototypes like Japanese maglev or electromagnetic catapults in carriers reach that speed.
 

Temstar

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Mach 2-3? That would be non-trivial to build to say the least. As an example none of the high-speed rail prototypes like Japanese maglev or electromagnetic catapults in carriers reach that speed.
There's no reason why this has to be a pure maglev as it's not a train. Maybe towards the end of the track it fires off some rockets and becomes and maglev rocket sled to reach those speeds.
 

Deino

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Rather than continue to upgrade LM-5 and 5B perhaps the plan is to focus effort on 921 and use 921 core only for LM-5B type missions once it comes online.


Pardon, but what is „921“?
 

Deino

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Falcon Heavy style rocket intended for moon mission.
View attachment 71612
921 rocket on the right

Some people speculates that this rocket could be made reusable just like Falcon Heavy.

Thanks ...but right is the CZ-9 or Long March 9 ... so they are the same? ... and what is the left one?
 

Temstar

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They got it mixed up, 921 is the one on the left.
I should add, the 921 on the left is the CBC configuration, so same sort of thing as Falcon Heavy, Delta IV Heavy etc. It's intended for launching big stuff like moon surface station parts to deep space.

The plan also calls for 921 core to be used on its own for LEO heavy lift missions. The core is 5m diameter so big payloads like CSS parts would fit right on top. It's also intended to be man-rated as you can tell from the LES tower. 921 CBC configuration would have something like 70 tons to LEO capacity. 921 core only would have less payload to LEO than LM-5.

First stage (or each booster in the CBC version) is seven YF-100K engine, second stage is two YF-100M, third stage is three YF-75D. All are existing engines so the rocket is just a new way to put them together.
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Due to the clustering of engines in the first stage it's suspected that the intention is for first stage to be recovered ala Falcon Heavy. Long March 8R is also intended for recovery and uses the same engines (four of them) in its recoverable stage.
 
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