The Steel Tank of the huge Cz-9 rocket has just manufactured

Spacex continues years away from any competitor, including the Chinese government. Like the rest of the world, China has been late for reusable rockets and the Starlink satellite constellation, which has an undeniable strategic value. But with Starship, the giant rocket that Spacex is developing in Texas, China is determined to cut distances.

The Chinese starship. While Spacex continues to put the highest and most powerful pitcher in the world (not without some difficulty), China has stepped on the accelerator in the development of its own reusable superpesado rocket: the long march 9 (CZ-9) of 114 meters high.

The renders are over. This time, the Chinese Academy of Release Vehicle Technology (CALT) has presented two real -scale prototypes of stainless steel tanks of the CZ-9. Its dimensions are not trivial: they measure 5 and 10.6 meters in diameter (Starship has a width of 9 meters).

While the 10.6 meter tank fits perfectly with the CZ-9, the purpose of the 5-meter prototype is … less evident. Perhaps CALT is exploring a stainless steel version of the CZ-10, the rocket with which China wants to send astronauts to the moon, or simply using this diameter as a test bench to validate rapid manufacturing technologies (it took only 60 days to design and manufacture the tanks).

The SpaceX recipe. While Spacex has the manufacture of stainless steel dominated, for China the production of tanks of this size steel is an advance, since the rockets usually be made of aluminum and carbon fiber.

Calt has encountered the challenges of the material: it is more difficult to mechanize than aluminum, and more prone to buckling and deformation in the welds. Overcoming these obstacles has required, according to the state company, “several key technical advances” in assembly, welding and forming.

But there are two good reasons why Spacex chose steel: its price (it is cheap and can be manufactured on a large scale) and its resistance (Starship has demonstrated a great capacity to resist the atmospheric braking), a crucial feature for a rocket that aspires to be total and quickly reusable.

From partial to totally reusable. China’s plan is first develop a partially reusable version of the CZ-9, scheduled for 2030, and then evolve towards total reuse with version CZ-9BR at some point between 2033 and 2035.

Another similarity with Spacex is the number of engines and the chosen fuel: 30 YF-215 methane with 200 tons of thrust each in its first stage, for a total load capacity of 150 tons to the low orbit.

So that. The potential uses of CZ-9 They are so varied As in the case of Starship: establish a manned lunar base, display central gigantic solar energy in spaceto launch space telescopes and, yes, manned missions to Mars.

Image | CALT

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