China's Space Program Thread II

[Michael90]

The launch cadence of Jielong-3 will be stepped up in the second half of this year, with one launch scheduled for each months of September, October, November, and December.

Seems like they can manage 80launches this year? That will be quite an achievement .
I red somewhere that SpaceX is aiming for 100 launches. Not sure that's even possible.

 

[by78]

According to a CCTV newscast, taikonaut Chen Dong (陈冬) is the current captain of the

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. Mr. Chen is the 5th captain of the corps and the first among China's second batch of taikonauts to hold this position.

 

[Kalec]

Chinese 200t methanlox engine or YF-215.

Planned thrust: 2000kN
Chamber pressure: 25MPa


Specification of other engines:

YF-100: Ground thrust/Isp 1200kN/300.2s
YF-115: Vacuum thrust/Isp 180kN/340.2s
YF-100K: Ground thrust/Isp 1250kN/301.8s
YF-100M: Vacuum thrust/Isp 1434kN/346.2s
YF-130: Ground thrust/Isp 4800kN/308.3s
YF-102: Ground thrust/Isp 835kN/275.5s
YF-102V: Vacuum thrust/Isp 710kN/332.1s
YF-50D: Vacuum thrust/Isp 6.5kN/316.2s

Source: PhilLeafSpace

 

[Hitomi]

Chinese 200t methanlox engine or YF-215.

Planned thrust: 2000kN
Chamber pressure: 25MPa


Specification of other engines:

YF-100: Ground thrust/Isp 1200kN/300.2s
YF-115: Vacuum thrust/Isp 180kN/340.2s
YF-100K: Ground thrust/Isp 1250kN/301.8s
YF-100M: Vacuum thrust/Isp 1434kN/346.2s
YF-130: Ground thrust/Isp 4800kN/308.3s
YF-102: Ground thrust/Isp 835kN/275.5s
YF-102V: Vacuum thrust/Isp 710kN/332.1s
YF-50D: Vacuum thrust/Isp 6.5kN/316.2s

Source: PhilLeafSpace
View attachment 114365View attachment 114366

Which of these are the closest to being qualified for service?

 

[AF-1]

Seems like they can manage 80launches this year? That will be quite an achievement .
I red somewhere that SpaceX is aiming for 100 launches. Not sure that's even possible.

They have 39 in pocket already this year, so near 100 is within reach...

 

[Michael90]

They have 39 in pocket already this year, so near 100 is within reach...

It's crazy how fast SpaceX has grown. I don't think even the US government expected that. Have to admire Elon Musk, that dude is a genius.
Crazy to think that even after years of service, SpaceX is still the only one with an operational reusable space rocket. Shows just how far ahead they have gone.

 

[taxiya]

It's crazy how fast SpaceX has grown. I don't think even the US government expected that. Have to admire Elon Musk, that dude is a genius.
Crazy to think that even after years of service, SpaceX is still the only one with an operational reusable space rocket. Shows just how far ahead they have gone.

It depends on how you see things. SpaceX is a company, CASC is a company, in 2022, they launched

CASC is slightly lower than SpaceX, while China's total lauch is also slightly lower than US. So I don't really see SpaceX being outstandingly impressive, at least not compared to CASC. It is just that all other US company are so crappy that makes SpaceX a monopoly of US launch market.

 

[gelgoog]

SpaceX singlehandedly reversed the US's failure in the commercial launch market. The US had been falling behind ever since they started using the outrageously expensive Space Shuttle. Arianespace was at one point the world's largest commercial launch provider back when they used the Ariane 4. Afterwards a huge amount of the launch market was controlled by ILS which used the Russian Proton launcher. Falcon 9 has basically eaten away the market that Arianespace and ILS used to hold.

As for China, the US persistent sabotage of the Chinese launch market with their ITAR sanctions has basically prevented commercial operators in the West from using Chinese launch vehicles. Right now there are similar sanctions on Russian launchers. Which is one of the reasons why Proton largely dropped out of the market. That and having enough failures to steeply increase insurance for Proton launches.

 

[BoraTas]

Chinese 200t methanlox engine or YF-215.

Planned thrust: 2000kN
Chamber pressure: 25MPa


Specification of other engines:

YF-100: Ground thrust/Isp 1200kN/300.2s
YF-115: Vacuum thrust/Isp 180kN/340.2s
YF-100K: Ground thrust/Isp 1250kN/301.8s
YF-100M: Vacuum thrust/Isp 1434kN/346.2s
YF-130: Ground thrust/Isp 4800kN/308.3s
YF-102: Ground thrust/Isp 835kN/275.5s
YF-102V: Vacuum thrust/Isp 710kN/332.1s
YF-50D: Vacuum thrust/Isp 6.5kN/316.2s

Source: PhilLeafSpace
View attachment 114365View attachment 114366

Great. My only complaint is that chamber pressure sounds conservative.

 

[by78]

Screen shots of an article titled Research on Advanced Space Liquid Propulsion (航天先进液体动力研究) published in the latest issue of Aerospace China magazine (中国航天), which gives a progress report/overview of China's LOX/kerosene and LOX/methane engines.

YF-100: ground thrust/specific impulse is 1200kN/300.2s
YF-115: vacuum thrust/specific impulse is 180kN/340.2s
YF-100K: ground thrust/specific impulse is 1250kN/301.8s
YF-100M: vacuum thrust/specific impulse is 1434kN/346.2s
YF-130: ground thrust/specific impulse is 4800kN/308.3s
YF-102: ground thrust/specific impulse is 835kN/275.5s
YF-102V: vacuum thrust/specific impulse is 710kN/332.1s
YF-50D: vacuum thrust/specific impulse is 6.5kN/316.2s