China's Space Program Thread II

[NoetherSpudCharge]

CZ-9 has passed the company/organizational project approval review earlier this year.

CZ-9 to conduct first flight in 2032, with the two-stage reusable CZ-9B to follow suit in 2033.

Posted by @rational314159 on Twitter. Also please don't ask me what 载入登火 means.

By "this year", I assume it means 2026, not 2025? I wonder if there's any info regarding where CNSA intends to locate the CZ-9 pad at Wenchang?

Also, I don't know if your last remark ("please don't ask me what 载入登火 means.") is serious or not, so my apologies if I'm taking it the wrong way, but this phrase used in the slide refers to "crewed Mars landing". Other slides, possibly at the same conference (within the last 5 years), showed concept plans for a research Martian base in the 2040's (probably robotic initially) and CZ-9 flight scenarios for constructing a crewed Earth-Mars transfer vehicle.

 

[ACuriousPLAFan]

By "this year", I assume it means 2026, not 2025? I wonder if there's any info regarding where CNSA intends to locate the CZ-9 pad at Wenchang?

The briefing occurred just this morning in Shanghai. And considering that we're almost done with January, so I suppose early-2026 as in sometime within this month is reasonable.

Also, I don't know if your last remark ("please don't ask me what 载入登火 means.") is serious or not, so my apologies if I'm taking it the wrong way, but this phrase used in the slide refers to "crewed Mars landing". Other slides, possibly at the same conference (within the last 5 years), showed concept plans for a research Martian base in the 2040's (probably robotic initially) and CZ-9 flight scenarios for constructing a crewed Earth-Mars transfer vehicle.

Well, I mean, even Adorable Whale on Weibo is mystified by the phrase, so I really don't quite know either.

 

[sunnymaxi]

On January 29, 2026, the 240-ton-class commercial reusable high-pressure staged combustion liquid oxygen-kerosene engine of CASC successfully completed a 200-second long-duration test. This engine, designed for domestic commercial users and developed for large and medium-sized reusable launch vehicles, has achieved internationally leading performance levels.

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2016854275079754138

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[tphuang]

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Fudan university has developed Breakthrough in Space Electronic Devices in dealing with harsh space radiation environment. This has been verified in space over 9 months and no degradation in transceivers.

Will make the electronics significantly lighter since no longer need to harden it to the same degree.

 

[tphuang]

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/2016941909445353572

CASTC's 15th Five Year Plan looking to improve across 5 product areas and also to develop first of class tech, servicing, safety, supply chain & products.

 

[TheRathalos]

Before this, Was there any rockets scheduled to be launched this February in wenchang apart from this?

There were: A CZ-7A on 1/27, a CZ-8A on 2/3, a CZ-7A on 2/9*, a CZ-5 on 2/12 and a CZ-12 or 8A on 2/24, the first CZ-7A was delayed because of the CZ-3B failure, they share the same upper stage, the later three had their delays announced before the failure and the delay is likely related to the CZ-10 test, the CZ-8A could be for either reasons; .
*likely the first to use the 2nd CZ-7 VAB

Latest rumors are that the return to flight is now expected at the end of the Spring festival, with a Long march 7A on March 1st and a Long March 5 on march 12th; Additionally the latest rumor say that the maiden orbital launch of the Long march 10B is planned for April 5th.

The suborbital test of the Long March 10A is still planned for February 11th/12th

 

[NoetherSpudCharge]

CZ-9 has passed the company/organizational project approval review earlier this year.

CZ-9 to conduct first flight in 2032, with the two-stage reusable CZ-9B to follow suit in 2033.

Posted by @rational314159 on Twitter. Also please don't ask me what 载入登火 means.

View attachment 168792

Well, I mean, even Adorable Whale on Weibo is mystified by the phrase, so I really don't quite know either.

Lang LeHao's slide shows the CZ-9B is anticipated to fly in 2033. The CZ-9B is the 2-stage fully-reusable variant (see 1st slide below from DSEL), likely optimized for LEO cargo delivery. There have been studies comparing CZ-9B's and SpaceX Srarship's capabilities for delivering cargo to Martian orbit (see slide 2 below); specifically, such studies have compared the LMO mass-delivery capability of the CZ-9 (3-stage base variant) with that of the Starship+refueling -lights, and with the anticipated capability of the CZ-9B launching a subsequently-fueled Earth-Mars transfer vehicle. The depiction of the reference Earth-Mars vehicle in the slide somewhat resembles similar depictions in old NASA studies of possible crew/cargo Mars vehicles (chemical propulsion, or nuclea- thermal, or nuclear-electric; see the 3rd attached file).

In addition, there were repeated conference presentations of a future Mars research station as a possible development goal for the Chinese space program (e.g. see 4th image file), in the late 2030's to 2040's time-frame. None of this is to say that there are any firm plans within CNSA, CMSA, and DSEL for the actual development of a Martian station (crewed and/or robotic), but people are definitely thinking about it for awhile. And apparent notional plans from Chinese research teams presented in public have often turned into reality, as is the case for the entire Tianwen program; such a oresentation-into-reality evolutionary course apparently also is about to be taken by the long-mentioned Chinese Heliosphere Explorer concept (2 nuclear-powered spacecraft on course to the head and tail of the Heliosphere boundary via gravity-ssists at Venus, Earth, and Jupiter, with additional exploration of targets of opportunity such as Centaurs and Trans-Neptunian-Objects).

(The images of the Chinese slides are circa the 2023-2025 time-frame from various sources, including possibly from older posts in this thread itself; the image of the NASA figure is from a document on potential Martian architecture available from one of the NASA center's website though I can't remember which one, perhaps it's from Goddard.)

 

[siegecrossbow]

The briefing occurred just this morning in Shanghai. And considering that we're almost done with January, so I suppose early-2026 as in sometime within this month is reasonable.

View attachment 168795



Well, I mean, even Adorable Whale on Weibo is mystified by the phrase, so I really don't quite know either.

It’s only appropriate that they introduce Marx-Leninism to the “Red Planet” at some stage.

I think things to pay more attention to than even rocket development would be habitation tech like water/oxygen extraction, insitru construction, and agriculture in extraterrestrial environment. No doubt experience accumulated from the Lunar Base will come in handy and shorten development cycle.

 

[FKAMtS4kE]

CZ-9 has passed the company/organizational project approval review earlier this year.

CZ-9 to conduct first flight in 2032, with the two-stage reusable CZ-9B to follow suit in 2033.

Posted by @rational314159 on Twitter. Also please don't ask me what 载入登火 means.

View attachment 168792

Why does the CZ-9B graphic not have flaps? Did the design change?

 

[TheRathalos]

Why does the CZ-9B graphic not have flaps? Did the design change?

For the past couple of years, the CZ-9 familly was organised like this:
CZ-9: 3-stages version for direct lunar transfer (50t to lunar transfer ) with a reusable 1st stage and expendable 2nd & 3rd Stage
CZ-9B: 2 stages version for heavy LEO payloads (150t to LEO) with a reusable 1st stage
CZ-9BR: 2 stages version for heavy LEO payloads (80t to LEO) with both stages reusable.

However the latest presentation by CASC from 2 weeks ago show that the version with both reusable stages is the one that's now simply named CZ-9B



The graphics on Long Lehao's presentations are often outdated or inconsistent (I remember once he used a fan drawing of Long march to show his company's rocket lineup lol). As it currently stands it seems that CZ-9B is the name for the version with both reusable stages

Anyway, CZ-9 is seemingly getting real

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某运载火箭项目土地征收成片开发方案 "Land Acquisition and Large-Scale Development Plan for a Certain Launch Vehicle Project"

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Note "Long March 9 road" and "Due to special technological requirements, buildings and structures within the plot may exceed the 150m building height limit, provided that safety is ensured", it seems that this is it, in accordance with

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in the 15th 5-year plan (development of a reusable 100-ton-class heavy launcher), the construction of the assembly building for the Long March 9 is expected to start in March.