Obama cowers and cancels Shuttle while Chinese forge ahead in space
Kennewick Man; the first, the BEST!
By Anatoly Zak Science reporter
Computer graphic of the Long March-5 rocket (Image: CALT) Engines on
China's Long March-5 will develop 120 tonnes of thrust
Chinese engineers are considering a new super-powerful engine for the
next generation of space rockets, say officials.
According to Li Tongyu, general manager of the marketing department at
the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), engineers are
currently studying a rocket engine capable of generating thrust of 600
tonnes.
If China succeeds in the development of such power, it would increase
the nation's capabilities in space by orders of magnitude.
For comparison, China is currently well in the development of its most
powerful rocket to date - Long March-5 - that would sport engines with
the thrust of 120 tonnes.
"Rockets (with 600-tonne thrust engines) would only be justified for
things like sending humans to the Moon, if such projects are
approved," Li Tongyu told BBC News.
Related stories
* What's driving China space efforts?
* US praises China's space progress
In March, the official China Daily newspaper disclosed that CALT was
studying a super-heavy launch vehicle, which could be used to mount
lunar expeditions.
At the time, the newspaper quoted CALT Vice President Liang Xiaohong
as saying that the total lift-off thrust of the future heavy launcher
would be 3,000 tonnes.
'Grander scale'
To develop such thrust, the first stage of the proposed rocket would
need five 600-tonne engines, possibly distributed between one central
stage and four strap-on boosters.
Computer graphic of the separation stage of a Long March-5 rocket
(Image: CALT) China hopes to carry out its first LM-5 test launch in
2014
The rocket's architecture would thus be similar to the one adopted for
the Long March-5 rocket, but at a considerably grander scale.
Although the expected payload of the future heavy lifter had not been
disclosed, available details allow placing it close to the same
category with that of the Saturn-5 rocket, which carried US astronauts
to the Moon.
In the meantime, the development of the Long March-5 rocket was
proceeding well toward its first test launch, currently expected in
2014, Li Tongyu said.
The vehicle's first stage engine had already accumulated more than
10,000 seconds of firing during tests - an important milestone on the
way to its certification for real missions.
A full-scale prototype of the Long March 5 rocket would be ready for
testing in 2012 and a year later, test firing of fully assembled
rocket stages would be conducted.
When operational, Long March-5 is expected to deliver up to 25 tonnes
of payload, including space station modules to the low Earth orbit,
and up to 14 tonnes to the so-called geostationary transfer orbit,
where most communications satellites are released after launch.
At the UK's Farnborough airshow, CALT demonstrated computer-generation
videos, showcasing impressive new assembly and launch infrastructure
of the Long March-5 rocket.
Newly built facilities will feature a sprawling campus not far from
Chinese capital Beijing, where the rocket would be assembled.
The rocket stages would then be shipped to the launch site in the very
south of China, where it could take advantage of the Earth rotation to
maximise its cargo capabilities.
Along with Earth-orbiting satellites, the Long March-5 is expected to
carry Chinese spacecraft into deep space, including unmanned missions
to return soil samples from the Moon.