China's Space Program News Thread

[Cloud_Nine_]

What are these engines going to be used for now? On 24 June 2021, the chief designer of the Long March series, Long Lehao, presented a new design of Long March 9 which uses 4 new 120-tonne hydrolox engines for the second stage, instead of 2 YF-90 engines used in earlier design. Or are they going to build two completely different types of Long March 9?

This is just my personal opinion here: Long's design presents a future out look for a starship-style recoverable super heavy rocket. Current news all point to the fact LM-9 is still being worked on as the 2011 design.

In fact this just came out. 9.5 meter bulkhead rings. Obviously for the core booster stage for the 2011 design.

 

[Cloud_Nine_]

The new core stage engines, the 360 ton thrust Kerolox engines are entirely new and a sudden change of directions would probably mean LM-9 will miss many crucial nodes in CNSA's plans, namely, permanent moon base construction. Given already the amount of work being done for the old design, I think its highly unlikely for such a change. Long said himself in his presentation that its not an official design.

And in any case, work on the YF-90 engine can probably be beneficial to the 200 ton thrust Methalox engine being developed. The YF-79 for LM-9's third stage will also be a crucial engine for deep space missions with high velocity requirements. Although apparently there's a new YF-75E engine with 451s of specific impulse being worked on for 921 rocket's third stage, maybe this means YF-79 might not be needed or at least wont be out for a while, just guessing here.

 

[SciNews]

China’s GRAS-4 antenna

 

[Quickie]

 

[by78]

The Mars rover has completed the survey of the second dune formation and is now moving toward more complex terrain.

 

[siegecrossbow]

The Mars rover has completed the survey of the second dune formation and is now moving toward more complex terrain.

1 KM here we come!

 

[taxiya]

This is just my personal opinion here: Long's design presents a future out look for a starship-style recoverable super heavy rocket. Current news all point to the fact LM-9 is still being worked on as the 2011 design.

I think you meant version 2021 by the bold text. Here is what I think.

1. It has re-usability potential in its design. It is almost certain that the first stage will be reusable. I highly doubt that 2nd can be reused ever.
2. It has 2nd and 3rd stages unlike starship being a 2nd stage. This means that CZ-9 (21) is never going to be a starship thing.
3. You can imagine that starship combo is a vertically stacked space-shuttle with much reduced horizontal maneuverability in landing, while CZ-9 (21) is a larger Saturn 5 with potential to reuse 1st stage.

The recent reports of progress of components for version 11 does not necessarily indicate the fate of either 11 or 21. YF-130, YF-90, the 9.5 meter bulkhead ring and the earlier 9.5 meter center ring have all been in the progress of development for many years. There is no reason to suddenly stop them from fruition just because version 21 is proposed, it would be a waste to not to finish them. But on the other hand, finishing what is being done does not necessarily mean that they will be used on a CZ-9 version (11) that is not very satisfactory.

It is just too early to make an conclusion. I think a better indication would be to look at the time plan of China's moon landing program, whether China want to stick to the milestone of 2030 (around) launch of heavy lift.

 

[taxiya]

The new core stage engines, the 360 ton thrust Kerolox engines are entirely new and a sudden change of directions would probably mean LM-9 will miss many crucial nodes in CNSA's plans, namely, permanent moon base construction. Given already the amount of work being done for the old design, I think its highly unlikely for such a change. Long said himself in his presentation that its not an official design.

And in any case, work on the YF-90 engine can probably be beneficial to the 200 ton thrust Methalox engine being developed. The YF-79 for LM-9's third stage will also be a crucial engine for deep space missions with high velocity requirements. Although apparently there's a new YF-75E engine with 451s of specific impulse being worked on for 921 rocket's third stage, maybe this means YF-79 might not be needed or at least wont be out for a while, just guessing here.

This is the key to determine the fate of the two versions like I said in post 8869. How likely for such change depends on how much the time of those nodes are set in stone.

In the early study of 220t class engine (YF-90) "full flow" was mentioned and dismissed. Considering the H2 pump is more challenging to a methane pump, also considering that it is the same institute that is developing the 200t methane engine, it is certain that knowledge gained from YF-90 will greatly help the methane engine.

 

[xyqq]

Mars Rover Zhurong's recent position based on the picture it took:



Here is the close-up view of reference objects:

 

[Cloud_Nine_]

Take this with a grain of salt but according to a reliable source, Long Lehao's 2021 version of LM-9 was not just "his own take" but a design being pushed for by CALVT (1st design academy of CASC). And there's a high possibility that this design will be the one that will be worked on...