Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Reports from China indicate the country is advancing research on next-generation crewed launch vehicles with new Long March launch vehicles potentially used in China’s human lunar landing program and the construction of an international research station on the Moon.

“The payload capacity of the next-generation rockets and heavy rockets for manned lunar missions has plenty of room for another major upgrading to support the construction and implementation of these projects.” said Chen Xiaofei, an expert with the general design department of China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.

Credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab

While maintaining a high success launch rate of the active Long March rockets, China Central Television (CCTV) says the country is also carrying out work to reduce the launch cost, as well as make technical breakthroughs like re-use of spacecraft.

“We have been conducting researches and working on solutions revolving around the reuse technology for Long March rockets. Our plan is to finish the relevant flight tests within the 14th Five-Year Plan period (2021-2025),” Chen told CCTV.

Maiden flights

In the past two years, the Long March rockets have put more than 200 spacecraft into the preset orbit precisely, adds CCTV, with several new types making their maiden flights successfully.

China’s large carrier rocket Long March-5B made its maiden flight on May 5, 2022, increasing the carrying capacity of Chinese rockets to low-Earth orbit to 25 tons.

CCTV also added that the successful launch of the medium-lift carrier rocket Long March-8 on Dec. 22, 2020 has filled the gap in China’s launch capability to the sun-synchronous orbit from three to five tons.

The modified version of the Long March-6 carrier rocket with solid strap-on boosters adopted two types of engines, achieving its maiden flight on March 29 of this year and sending two satellites into planned orbit.

Credit: CGTN/Inside Outer Space screengrab

“We must have our own powerful and suitable carrier rockets, because how strong the capability of the carrier rocket decides how deep China’s space capability can reach into space, and how smoothly this pursuit would be,” said Yan Zexian, director of quality and technology department of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

Lunar landing: around 2030?

Meanwhile, the Beijing-based Global Times reports that even without the new-generation crew-carrying rocket and super-heavy lift launch vehicle, leading Chinese rocket scientist Long Lehao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and chief designer of the Long March rockets, revealed in August 2021 that China could use two rocket launches to send two taikonauts to the Moon by around 2030.

Long referred to the new variant as Long March-5 DY, which stands for “dengyue,” meaning “lunar landing” in Chinese, reports the Global Times.

China’s Long March-5 booster departs Wenchang launch site.
Credit: CASC

Two rockets carrying a lunar lander and a next-generation piloted spaceship would be launched for the mission, and the two parts of the spacecraft will rendezvous and dock in near-lunar orbit, before executing the landing process.

The two taikonauts could work on the Moon’s surface for some six hours, according to Long.

Global Times adds that there is no mention of a specific landing site. The new piloted spaceship would then depart the Moon and carry out another docking with an orbiting module before heading back to Earth – a scenario already used for China’s robotic lunar sample return mission.