Posted on 03/14/2002 8:30:39 AM PST by RightWhale
China Plans Heavy Lifter To Launch Space Station And More
Beijing - Mar 14, 2002 - People's Daily
China is preparing for intensified space missions and international satellite launch services by developing a new family of powerful launch vehicles, senior aerospace officials said Wednesday in Beijing.
Such carrier rockets will be used to launch a 20-ton, permanently manned space station, said Zhang Qingwei, president of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp (CASC).
To realize its goal of exploring outer space and expanding shares in the global satellite launch market, China has stepped up the design and development of carrier rockets with non-toxic, non-pollution, high-performance and low-cost qualities, he said.
Zhang said that developing the new generation of launch vehicles is key to maintaining the country's edge in the world aerospace field and boosting its economic expansion.
Achievements made in recent years
Launch capacity for the world's primary rockets exceeds 20 tons for near-earth orbits and ranges up to 7 tons for geo-stationary transfer orbits while for Chinese rockets, the figures stand at 9.2 tons and 5.1 tons respectively, Zhang said.
China plans to launch its attended space station "at an appropriate time this century,'' Zhang said, declining to specify a timetable.
China has tested two unmanned experimental space flights since 1999 to provide ground for sending astronauts into space, said Zhuang Fenggan, chairman of the Science and Technology Commission of CASC.
After realizing successful manned space flights, China will build space stations. But Zhuang said the country should first build a space lab that will be sporadically attended by researchers.
China's Long March rockets have yet to improve capacity to fulfil the missions, however.
The country has an "imperative'' need to catch up with the world's pace in launch vehicle technology, and provide robust buttresses for efforts including the establishment of space stations and space production bases, Zhang said.
Worldwide, at least 30 satellites will be placed into geo-stationary orbits each year by 2010, each weighing more than 4 tons.
The new launchers will be built on a modular design based on three models of core stages -- 2.25 metres, 3.35 metres and 5 metres in diameter -- powered by liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen and refined kerosene, which produces powerful propulsion and leaves no pollution or poison, he said.
Zhuang said China has already made breakthroughs in developing liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen and refined kerosene, which will make its rockets more environmentally friendly.
Upon completion, the new family of rockets -- by combining the three modules -- will be able to cover a launch range between 0.5 ton to 25 tons for near-earth orbits and 4-13 tons for geo-stationary transfer orbits, Zhang said.
One such rocket can be used to blast two 6-ton geo-stationary transfer satellites into their orbits or launch a group of middle and low-orbit satellites, he said.
"The new generation of the carrier rockets will enable China to launch all kinds of satellites to be developed in the world in the coming 20 to 30 years,'' he said. "This will dramatically boost the competitive edge of the Long March rockets in the world market.''
Bright prospect of new launch vehicle technology
Apart from space stations and global launch service, Zhang also envisioned a bright prospect for the use of the new launch vehicle technology in China in the years to come.
The new rockets can be used to send large-scale astronomical telescopes and explorers to the moon and Mars.
As for the timetable of such new-type rockets, Luan Enjie, director of the State Aerospace Bureau, said a preliminary study on such rockets has been finished, and the work has shifted to research and manufacturing of the sample models.
Publisher's Note: This article is from the English Language version of People's Daily and is unedited from the original.
Naw, I'm too busy expecting lots of casualties from Afghanistan now, and Iraq in 1990.
The chinese have never successfully orbited in space, they have a few big blunders to make first. They are just making one huge bottle rocket.........BOOM!
Anyone who has dealt with chinese tech knows it is of very poor QC. They may be able to dominate the sneaker market. Nobody concerns themselves with the quality control of $10.00 tennis shoes. But customers willing to spend billions on space hardware would not touch chinese tech with a ten foot pole. They hardly have the concept of a 'clean room' for any manufacturing process in that country.
They tried to liscense building russian fighters once and had to send the finished products to Russia in order to 'fix' them so they could fly.
Comes with the territory; 2000 ton potential pipe-bombs are dangerous. But, it is possible to make rockets that suck for only so long. After a while there is improvement.
We will find something to critize about China's moon-base, just as we criticized Russia's space station and even the Russian parts of the ISS.
A true story:
A Chinese student on a visa bought an older Chevy to get back and forth from school to the apartment. The particular car he owned had something out of balance in the front end so the car would shimmy above a certain speed. He took pleasure in giving rides to his friends and noting their reaction to the ride when the shimmy set in. Then he would start with the jokes about American cars and what trash they are. When asked if Chinese cars were better, he laughed even louder.
China will not give up on their space dreams, and they know quite well that there will be accidents and that men and hardware sometimes fail. But they won't freak if they lose a taikonaut. They will be sad and redouble their efforts.
That is correct.
The new generation is very excited about this, is working hard, and is highly competent. But filling in the infrastructure, such as materials science, takes time. The space program is the tip of the spear. When the space program gets moving, you will know the rest of the industry has advanced as well. Change is coming soon, is already begun.
For China to become a technological power, they need to come into the 21st century at many other levels as well. You've seen the space photo taken in the last year that shows the earth at night. You'll notice that there are no lights to speak of inland of hundred miles of the chinese coast. Contrast this to India, or the US or Europe or Japan. This picture says a world about the econmic might and stability of various countries. Economic power and internal stability are related. That photo shows not only the economic power houses of the world today, it shows where the worlds fault lines are and where regions of economic depression exist. China has to deal with that. We should also be aware that Chinese political stability is threatened by its economic weakness.
Chinese dreams of space domination are just dreams for the foreseeable future (at least the next century).
BTW, if you get to see the photo I refer to, contrast N. Korea and S. Korea. Another flash point that we have to be very careful in handling.
BTW again, contrast the Muslim and Christian worlds in the same photo.
Maybe someone can post it here.
Impossible to have too much Heinlein.
If they use it for the military, we could burn it up on launch with our laser equiped 747's. But the NWO types would be really unhappy with that action.
But history is showing, and evidence is continuing to support the notions that non-free market, non-open societies can not modernize at the rate of their free-market counterparts. The chinese leadership is caught between opposing goals, that of maintaining central control and bringing the country into the modern world. It can not accomplish both at the same time.
For this reason alone, they will never be the super power they envision themselves to be.
As for space development becoming self supporting, you'll have to explain that one to me. The commercial world is such, but just barely and it is highly competitive. So far, and for the near future, no other space ventures succeed with strong national interest and government funding.
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