China scraps expendable Long March 9 rocket plan in favor of reusable version

中国长征九号火箭计划由不可回收转换为可回收模式

HELSINKI — Rocket designers with China’s main launch vehicle institute have scrapped plans for an expendable super heavy-lift launcher in favor of a design featuring a reusable first stage.

赫尔辛基（HELSINKI）——中国主要运载火箭研究所的火箭设计师，舍弃了一次性超重型发射器的设计，转而采用可回收使用的第一级设计。

A new model of a Long March 9 rocket featuring grid fins and no side boosters recently went on display at the ongoing Zhuhai Airshow in southern China, prompting speculation that the long-standing plan of an expendable rocket had been dropped.

长征9号火箭的新型号具有网格鳍，没有侧助推器，将在中国南方正在进行的珠海航展上亮相，这引发了人们的猜测，即一次性火箭的长期计划将被摒弃。

Liu Bing, director of the general design department at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), later confirmed the new direction in an interview with China Central Television Nov. 7.

中国运载火箭技术研究院总体设计部主任刘兵在11月7日接受中国中央电视台采访时证实了这一猜测。

The new, current plan for the rocket will be a three-stage, 108-meter-high, 10-meter-diameter and 4,180 metric ton rocket capable of delivering 150 tons to low Earth orbit (LEO), 50 tons to lunar transfer orbit (LTO), or 35 tons to Mars transfer orbit. The rocket is scheduled to be ready for test flight around 2030.

该火箭目前的新计划将是一个三级具有108米高、10米直径，重达4180公吨的火箭，能够向低地球轨道（LEO）运载150吨，向月球转移轨道（LTO）运载50吨，或向火星转移轨道运载35吨。该火箭计划在2030年左右准备试飞。

Liu told CCTV however that the design has not been finalized and will likely see changes as the team selects the optimal pathway, while committing to the goal of constantly breaking through technological challenges and increasing its launching power.

然而，刘告诉央视，最终设计尚未敲定。团队将致力于不断突破技术挑战和提高发射能力的目标。随着团队的最优选择，可过可能会发生变化

The Long March 9 rocket project has been under development at CALT for a number of years. The original plan was to build an expendable rocket capable of delivering 100 metric tons or more to LEO.

火箭院已经研究长征九号火箭项目很多年。最初的计划是建造一枚能够向低地球轨道运送100公吨或更多的一次性火箭。

The original design would have made the Long March 9 analogous to NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), the first of which, for the Artemis 1 mission, currently sits on the pad at Launch Complex 39B at the the Kennedy Space Center with Tropical Storm Nicole approaching Florida.

最初的设计是使长征9号类似于美国宇航局的太空发射系统（SLS），第一个用于Artemis 1任务的长征9号目前位于肯尼迪航天中心39B发射中心的发射台上，而且热带风暴妮可正在逼近弗罗里达。

In recent years senior CALT official Long Lehao has presented new concepts for the Long March 9, apparently in reaction to developments in reusability demonstrated by SpaceX.

近来，火箭院高级官员龙乐豪提出了关于长征9号的新概念，这显然是对SpaceX展示的重要性发展的反应。

The presentations suggested, unofficially, at a transition away from the expendable version with boosters, displayed at Zhuhai Airshow last year, to separate reusable kerosene (sometimes referred to as version 21 and version 22) and methane-fueled concepts. The methane version could be ready by 2035, according to Long.

这些非官方性的展示表明，将从去年珠海航展上展示的带助推器的一次性版本过渡到分离可回收的煤油（有时被称为版本21和版本22）和甲烷燃料概念。据龙说，甲烷版本可能在2035年完成。

The new model keeps the old timeframe for a test flight, suggesting a switch from large, dual-nozzle 500-ton-thrust engines, to clusters of lower thrust, single-nozzle engines noted in Long’s presentations to facilitate recovery and reuse.

新型号保留了试飞的旧时间框架，建议从大型双喷嘴500吨推力发动机转向龙演示中提到的低推力单喷嘴发动机集群，以促进回收利用。

At the same time, the Sixth Academy of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), which also owns CALT, recently performed the first full system hot fire test of the 500-ton-thrust YF-130 kerosene-liquid oxygen engine, thought to be developed to power the expendable Long March 9. How the engine will be used going forward remains to be seen.

与此同时，中国航天科技集团公司（CASC）第六研究院（也是火箭院的所有者）最近对500吨推力的YF-130煤油液氧发动机进行了首次全系统热火测试，该发动机是为一次性的长征9号提供动力而开发的。该引擎未来将如何使用仍有待观望。

Also on display in Zhuhai was China’s new generation crew launch vehicle, sometimes referred to as the Long March 5 Dengyue (“moon landing”) or Long March 5G. The showing indicates a shift from the slanted nose cones on the side cores of earlier models.

在珠海展出的还有中国新一代载人运载火箭，时常被称为长征五号登月或长征5G。该显示表明了从早期模型的侧核心倾斜的鼻锥的转变。

The rocket will be capable of sending 27 metric tons into trans-lunar injection. A pair of the new rockets will be capable of sending a crewed spacecraft and, separately, a landing stack, to lunar orbit. This would allow two astronauts to make a landing on the moon.

该火箭将能够发送27公吨进入跨月球轨道。一对新火箭将能够将载人飞船和单独的着陆堆栈送入月球轨道。这将支持两名宇航员在月球上同时着陆。

Liu said the rocket is almost ready for the prototyping stage and would have a test flight in 2027. It was not clear if this referred to the single-stick variant for launches of a new generation crew spacecraft to LEO—earlier slated for a 2026 first launch—or the full, three-core, three-stage version for lunar missions.

刘说，火箭几乎已经准备好进入原型阶段，并将在2027年进行试飞。目前尚不清楚这是指向低地球轨道发射新一代载人飞船的单杆版本（早些时候计划于2026年首次发射），还是用于月球任务的完整的三核三级版本。

CASC recently conducted 300-second mission duty cycle tests of the YF-100M vacuum-optimized engines for the rocket’s second stage.

CASC最近对火箭第二级的YF-100M真空优化发动机进行了300秒的任务占空比测试。

Senior Chinese space officials including Long Lehao and Ye Peijian stated last year the country will be capable of executing this idea for the two-launch, short-term lunar stay mission before 2030.

包括龙和叶在内的中国高级航天官员去年表示，中国将有能力在2030年前执行两次短期月球停留的发射任务。