Does that Chinese text say they are not going to build even one of the old design? I ask because the tank pictures posted yesterday say 9.5M diameter. 9.5M was from 2011 design. 2021 design has 10.6M, 2022 April one is 11M and back to 10.6M in 2022 October. The most recent methane/LOX design retains 10.6M
China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
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Does that Chinese text say they are not going to build even one of the old design? I ask because the tank pictures posted yesterday say 9.5M diameter. 9.5M was from 2011 design. 2021 design has 10.6M, 2022 April one is 11M and back to 10.6M in 2022 October. The most recent methane/LOX design retains 10.6M
The Chinese text regarding CZ-9 says that the first stage is reusable, that implies the new design. It did not say anything about the old design. If there is no other way of interpretation, I don't think the old design will ever be built.
There are two tank diameters being developed. One of my earlier post #1,131 said that the 10 meter ring is only one year behind 9 meter ring. We are seeing the 9 (9.5) meter tank right now because it is in an earlier stage than 10 meter tank. We may soon hearing 10 meter tanks coming up. Also, CASC is not going to suddenly abandon their ongoing work just because they adjusted their design. This is the same with YF-130, they will finish it even if they never going to put it into operation. CZ-9 is still in the key tech development phase, 10m tank isn't much different from 9m tank, finishing 9m tank including test is a milestone for 10m tank as well, these tanks (9m) and engines (YF-130) at this moment are meant to prove the technology. Simply put, 9m tank and YF-130 being finished are just finishing what have been started, but not meaning to build the old design of CZ-9.
This is not unusual, for example NASA's Ares and SLS rockets design was evolving with different engine configuration or even different engines (RS-25/RS68).
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That is wild. 2028 flight test of 100t LEO, that is only 5 years from now, even if that test is not orbital test. They must have already decided of engines which must be pretty big. We are talking about the same class as CZ-9, at least larger than CZ-10 depending on whether the 100t is achieved in re-usable mode or expendable mode. A wild guess is that it could be possible that if the 200t FFSC engine was not selected for CZ-9 before 2030, this rocket may take in this engine. The engine could have been ready for flight test in the same manner as SpaceX. CASC may be open to the idea of having private capitals to pay for the Elon work.A job posting from Jianyuan Technology (箭元科技), which says the company is working on a large transport system that will have a carrying capacity of 100 tons to LEO and can be re-used 100 times. Its first flight is planned for 2028.
A prototype
