China reveals plans for R&D of reusable carrier rocket

Technology to boost competitiveness in global astronautical field

China has developed two plans for reusable carrier rockets and made breakthroughs in key technologies, a move analysts said could boost China's competitiveness in reusable carrier rocket technology in the global market.

China is working to develop reusable carrier rocket technologies and is experimenting with two variants including vertical landing and parachute landing, Lu Yu, director of Science and Technology Committee at No.1 research institute affiliated with the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), said at the Global Space Exploration Conference (GLEX 2017), CCTV News reported on Thursday.

Both plans have partially gone through experimental validation, and breakthroughs have been made in key technologies, Lu was quoted by CCTV News as saying.

"Our basic idea is to align the plan of reusable carrier rocket technology with the national condition and reduce costs. We need to balance the two factors so we could decide which plan we will adopt in the future," Lu said.

According to industry experts, parachute landing refers to rocket landing using parachute, especially landing on the sea, and vertical landing refers to rocket landing at an assigned place via thrust buffer.

"The technology of parachute landing is relatively mature compared with vertical landing. However, in terms of retrieval, vertical landing is more convenient and simpler," said Wang Yanan, chief editor of the Aerospace Knowledge magazine, told the Global Times, adding that the expenditure can be reduced by nearly half via reuse.

"Development of the technology not only can reduce costs but also enhance our competitiveness in the global market. At the same time, China will be able to help other developing countries with astronautical technologies so that these countries will find it more convenient to enter into the field," said Wang.

"China's plan coincides with the international trend. Countries such as the U.S., Russia, India and France are also working on it," Huang Jun, a professor at the Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, told the Global Times.

Early this year, SpaceX, a U.S. company in rocket and spacecraft manufacturing, became the first to successfully re-fly a used rocket, "finally achieving a reliable aircraft rather than throwing away an airplane after each flight", the Guardian reported in March.

"The U.S. technology adopted on the reusable rocket is similar to vertical landing, but our technology in vertical landing must be different from the U.S. in terms of technological details as the specifications of the two countries' rockets are quite different," said Wang.

The heavy rocket is expected to make its maiden flight between the year 2028 and 2030, mainly used for deep space exploration especially for the establishment of lunar base and manned lunar landing, Lu said.

CZ-8 mainly adopts the mature technology we currently possess to largely reduce the R&D cost, which is a kind of low-cost carrier rocket in the new generation categories. CZ-8 might make its maiden flight in 2018, Lu said.