China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
by78
General
Tianbing/Space Pioneer will begin development of a new variant of Tianlong-2 rocket in preparation for sending cargo to the Chinese space station.
The new variant of Tianlong-2 will be put into serial production in March of 2026 and then make its first flight in August.
According to this latest CCTV interview (which was recorded for 2024 Zhuhai Airshow), CZ-10 series' maiden flight will be its variant w/o boosters, i.e. CZ-10A. There're at least two CZ-10A launches planned in 2026, one is its maiden flight, another one is its first recovery.
So we may see CZ-10A ready to launch & recovery for LEO satellite missions (similar to SpaceX F9 for starlink), before its brother CZ-10 ready for lunar missions?
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That isn't a surprise; the single core version of the rocket is naturally less ambitious than the triple core lunar variant.
Whether they successfully recover it before the triple core lunar variant has its first test flight, is another matter.
