All these comparisons with Starship are pretty moot IMO, because the chance of LM9 using stainless steel is extremely low and steel massively reduces the effective deltaV available at the same size, specifically and especially through second stage m_f. It one of those things that's hard for most people to visually intuit unless they played around with rocket equation extensively.
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China's Space Program Thread II
- Thread starter Blitzo
- Start date
Let me explain: CZ‑9’s 15‑meter fairing is most likely intended for the gigawatt‑level demonstration space solar power station planned for 2035.If I may, using a more realistic 110m tall CZ-9 Base, this is how I would depict a 16m diameter fairing.
View attachment 176284
It is indeed placed above the third stage (meaning it is for high‑orbit missions). Some say the deployed solar array would be several hundred meters to one kilometer long (likely stowed in a rolled configuration).
For China’s 10‑meter‑class heavy‑lift launch vehicle under the current design, the length‑to‑diameter ratio constraint is around 10, meaning the maximum height of the rocket must be slightly more than 10 times its 10.6‑meter diameter.
I believe the ultimate length‑to‑diameter ratio for such large‑diameter rockets in the future will be 13 to 14. Starship’s length‑to‑diameter ratio is an exception—it is not a conventional rocket.
As for a three‑stage rocket like CZ‑9 (which is structurally more flexible), the practical length‑to‑diameter ratio is limited (exceeding 12 would already be impressive). Therefore, CZ‑9 will most likely not be taller than Starship, because Starship can indeed reach 150 m in height, while CZ‑9 inherently cannot achieve that (due to having more stages—actually four stages, compared to Starship’s two).