China’s Long March 9
The upcoming Long March 9 is China’s answer to Starship—a reusable super heavy-lift launch vehicle. According to SpaceNews, the three-stage giant will stand 108 meters tall and be capable of delivering 150 tons to low Earth orbit. China’s space planners had originally intended for the rocket to be fully expendable, but those plans have changed.
Rockets that aren’t reusable have no future
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 9, 2022
The booster would be powered by 26 methane-fueled engines, each capable of exerting 200 tons of thrust. The Long March 9 is still very much in the realm of vaporware, with an anticipated first launch no earlier than 2030 and realistically not until 2035. China has its own lunar program to rival NASA’s Artemis, and this rocket will very likely play a role in those future missions to the Moon.
