China's heavy carrier rocket, new manned rocket to debut in few years

BEIJING, Dec. 28 -- In 2021, China's space launches have set new records by exceeding 50 times. Wu Yanhua, vice administrator of China National Space Administration (CNSC), said in an interview recently that multiple carrier rockets are under development, which will make their maiden flights in the next few years as scheduled.

According to Wu, China is currently developing a heavy carrier rocket with a low-Earth orbit (LEO) carrying capacity between 50 tons and 150 tons. It can send a 150-ton spacecraft into LEO, the same weight of the Tiangong space station, and space vehicles as heavy as 30 tons to the moon, four times the weight of the Chang'e-5 lunar probes. In the near future, it's supposed to undertake China's major space programs such as deep space exploration and manned landing on the moon. At present, the rocket is already in the stage of program deepening demonstration and critical technology tackling.

Meanwhile, a type of new-generation manned rocket is also under development based on the Long March-5. Two five-meter-diameter boosters will be added to both sides of the Long March-5 core stage. The propellant to be used is liquid oxygen/hydrogen and liquid oxygen/kerosene, non-toxic and pollution-free. Relevant data has shown that the new rocket will be 90-meter-tall, possessing 2,211 tons weight-at-launch and capable of sending a payload of 27 tons to the lunar transit orbit.

China's new-generation rocket family has now taken shape, said Wu. In the future, reusable rockets are bound to be developed and join the Long March rockets family