LM-8.
China's Space Program News Thread
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LM-8.
As far as I can tell, LM-8 is Just LM-7 first stage and strap-on booster mates to a different second stage?
Hmmm, it looks like a version of LM-7 also has the same upper stage as LM-8. what is the difference between LM-7 and LM-8?
I think that is the first semi-official rendering of the mysterious winged Chinese mini space shuttle?
Russia believe its American equivalent can launch nuclear warheads from orbit. The US Airforce secretary implied the design of X-37 is governed by the need to make major trajectory changes by dipping into the upper atmosphere to confound those who would use orbital mechanics to predict its trajectory. Which tend to support the existence of this capability. Wonder if the Chinese space plane has similar capability?
I also notice the Chinese space plane seem to have a big bulbous engine compartment in the back. The american X-37 has no such compartment in the back. I suspect this means the Chinese space plane is capable of far more extensive and energetic exo-atmospheric orbital maneuvers than the X-37?
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The bulbous section might just be bad drawing. We won’t know until the photograph of the actual video is unveiled.
Today's CZ-8 is the past CZ-722HO (internal model name in the road-map).
The version of CZ-7 with the same upper stage (LH/LO) is called CZ-7A (aka CZ-7G) today. The model name in the road-map was CZ-734HO.
From the model name you can see that the differences are:
3 stages vs. 2 stages.
4 boosters vs. 2
We know that China's final goal is fully reusable launch vehicle. CZ-8R is to recover the first stage and boosters in a bundle in VTVL style. The 2nd stage would be dispensable.
The space-plane is the final stage (3rd stage on top of a two stage launcher) which will glide back to earth. For the whole system to be fully reusable, the 2nd stage must be recovered as well. This is a very challenging task if the 2nd stage is ordinary rocket stage.
One possible solution which has been proven to work is NASA's shuttle. The shuttle orbiter is the final stage (2nd stage) while the external tank and SRBs are the 1st stage. The shuttle orbiter could not reach the orbit at main engine cut-off. It has OMS (Orbital Maneuvering System) to insert it into the orbit (the last small but important step). In this way, the orbiter is a combo of 2nd and 3rd stage.
SpaceX's star ship essentially took the same idea in that the star ship itself acts as a 2nd and 3rd stage combo, while the super heavy booster is the 1st stage. The difference is that star ship will fall back to earth rather than gliding back.
The Chinese space-plane could be doing the same as the shuttle. Although I am not sure if this test launch CZ-8R has a 2nd stage or not because it is a prove of concept test. Anyway, I suspect that the space-plane has a large fuel tank to insert itself in the orbit, therefor the bulbous section may be accurate.
If my thought is right, the extra space of the Chinese space-plane is for orbit insertion, it does not necessarily allow more exo-atmospheric maneuver than X-37, all depends on how much extra fuel it carries. China may not want too much extra fuel because the reduced payload, it is a trade-off one has to consider.
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