China will try to make what looks like a copy of the SpaceX Super Heavy Starship but with some solid rocket motor side boosters. The maiden flight is scheduled by 2030. They will then try to make the CZ-9 reusable.
If China flies a super-heavy rocket and makes it fully and rapidly reusable then they might only be 10 years behind SpaceX.
China is targeting 140 tons of payload per launch.
It is confirmed that Chinese government has officially approved Long March 9 super heavy launcher, which is going to power crewed lunar exploration, Mars sample return and crewed Mars exploration missions.
— Larry Teds (@LarryTeds) February 24, 2021
Source: CCTV interview with Wu Yanhua, deputy director of CNSA: “Now the state has decided to develop Long March 9. Its main purpose is for (if any) crewed lunar landing or crewed Mars landing missions.” @AJ_FI pic.twitter.com/XhKN8JOIYQ
— Larry Teds (@LarryTeds) February 24, 2021
The SpaceX Super Heavy Starship rendering is shown below. SpaceX has an initial goal of about 110 tons of payload to orbit.
SOURCES – Larry Teds, SpaceX
Written by Brian Wang, Nextbigfuture.com
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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