China planning to build its own version of SpaceX's Starship

News
By
published

China is looking to SpaceX yet again for inspiration.

a large rocket launches into a dawn sky from a seaside pad
SpaceX's fifth Starship vehicle launches on a test flight from Starbase in South Texas on Oct. 13, 2024. (Image credit: SpaceX)

SpaceX continues to be a font of inspiration for Chinese aerospace engineers.

At least one Chinese company is already working to create its own version of SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9, which has launched more than 100 orbital missions this year. And it was revealed this week that China's next-gen heavy lifter, the Long March 9, will look a lot like SpaceX's Starship megarocket, at least in one of its planned configurations.

Engineers unveiled the latest Long March 9 design at the 15th China Air Show in Zhuhai. According to a presentation at the show, the big, two-stage rocket — which will launch astronauts to the moon, among other tasks — will come in at least three versions, one of which is fully reusable, just like Starship. 

The similarities don't end there. The Long March 9's upper stage sports maneuver-enhancing flaps in similar locations to those on the Starship upper stage, as Ars Technica's Eric Berger noted.

Related: China's Long March rocket family: History and photos

The Long March 9's first-stage booster will be powered by 30 YF-215 engines, which run on liquid oxygen and liquid methane. Starship's first stage, known as Super Heavy, has 33 of SpaceX's new Raptor engines, which use the same propellants.

The Long March 9 — which is being developed by the state-owned China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) — will stand 374 feet (114 meters) tall and be capable of lofting at least 150 tons of payload to low Earth orbit (LEO), according to the presentation, a brief summary of which you can find here. Starship — the biggest and most powerful rocket ever built — is about 400 feet (122 m) tall, with a similar LEO payload capacity.

There is at least one big difference between the two megarockets, however: The Long March 9 is expected to fly for the first time in 2033, whereas Starship already has five test launches under its belt, with the sixth targeted for Nov. 18. 

SpaceX intends to have Starship up and running by September 2025, when NASA's Artemis 3 moon mission is scheduled to lift off. Starship will be the crewed lander for Artemis 3, ferrying NASA astronauts to and from the lunar surface, if all goes to plan.

RELATED STORIES:

— Launch like Starship? China considers fully reusable heavy-lift rocket: report

— China builds huge propellant tank for massive future rocket (photos)

— Watch China test fire new engine for its planned crewed moon rocket (video)

The newly unveiled Long March 9 design may not be set in stone, however, for China has changed its blueprint before.

Just a few years ago, for example, CALT was working on a three-stage, expendable Long March 9, which was expected to debut in 2030 or thereabouts.

Join our Space Forums to keep talking space on the latest missions, night sky and more! And if you have a news tip, correction or comment, let us know at: community@space.com.

Mike Wall
Mike Wall
Senior Space Writer

Michael Wall is a Senior Space Writer with Space.com and joined the team in 2010. He primarily covers exoplanets, spaceflight and military space, but has been known to dabble in the space art beat. His book about the search for alien life, "Out There," was published on Nov. 13, 2018. Before becoming a science writer, Michael worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Michael on Twitter.

19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Coverttrickster
    Small correction: "September 2025, when NASA's Artemis 3 " September 2025 is the projected Artemis 2 launch date.
    Reply
  • Philly
    China right now is really trying to clone the Falcon 9. Until Starship gets finalized, then they will try to clone that as quickly as possible. Most likely, Blue Origin will still stuck be on the launch pad.
    Reply
  • yus.simanjuntak
    China invented the rocket before space x or usa was even dreamed about.
    Reply
  • Rob77
    yus.simanjuntak said:
    China invented the rocket before space x or usa was even dreamed about.
    True, they did invent the first crude rocket (fire arrow as it was known). Not sure how this is relevant to SpaceX and the USA.
    Reply
  • yus.simanjuntak
    Rob77 said:
    True, they did invent the first crude rocket (fire arrow as it was known). Not sure how this is relevant to SpaceX and the USA.

    Rocket technology is rocket technology. Be careful accusing others of cloning things. The USA did it's fair share of cloning nazi stuff, and space x would not exist without freely available public data and knowhow from NASA accumulated over the past 60+ years.
    Reply
  • Zaphod the Elder
    yus.simanjuntak said:
    Rocket technology is rocket technology. Be careful accusing others of cloning things. The USA did it's fair share of cloning nazi stuff, and space x would not exist without freely available public data and knowhow from NASA accumulated over the past 60+ years.
    That may be true, but a foot long bamboo tube stuffed with 3rd rate gunpowder and a short wooden stick for a guidance system is NOWHERE near the modern technology of rocketry. Virtually zero overlap. You may as well compare a thrown rock (ballistic payload) to the sophisticated payloads of modern unmanned scientific spacecraft. Or counting out pebbles on an abacus to a modern supercomputer or quantum computer.
    Reply
  • Unclear Engineer
    It isn't about who got the basic idea first, it is about who is currently making the best improvements.

    Same thinking about going to the Moon. It really doesn't matter if the U.S. got there first, if 60 years later China can get there and the U.S. has not been able to return.

    Modern technology has many contributors from many cultures. Copying what others have learned is the normal path of progress, rather than isolated groups needing to "reinvent the wheel" for themselves at every step of the way to improving something.

    We could make progress faster if we all agreed to share findings. But, when groups have conflicts with each other, it is understandable that each wants to have superior technology to its adversaries, and does not want to share something that would help an adversary if a war breaks out.

    On the other hand, there is also the idea that without the threat of war breaking out, the impetus for doing technological research and development would be diminished or lacking, so that progress would actually slow down instead of speed up.
    Reply
  • George²
    Unclear Engineer said:
    rather than isolated groups needing to "reinvent the wheel" for themselves at every step of the way to improving something
    Patent law forces you to reinvent the wheel every time you try to build a new product. You must be sufficiently distinct and not include forms and technologies that are the subject of a patent entry unless you obtain or purchase a right to use from the patent holder. This can also be a positive, as while inventing something different, you may discover more efficient constructs.
    Reply
  • avenuePad
    George² said:
    Patent law forces you to reinvent the wheel every time you try to build a new product. You must be sufficiently distinct and not include forms and technologies that are the subject of a patent entry unless you obtain or purchase a right to use from the patent holder. This can also be a positive, as while inventing something different, you may discover more efficient constructs.
    Patent law does not "force you to reinvent the wheel every time you try and build a new product". That's ridiculous.

    From Google: "The invention must be novel, have utility and it cannot be obvious to a person of ordinary skill in that particular art."

    Let's take the wheel as an example. One cannot patent the wheel because it would be obvious to a person of ordinary skill that a round object rolls.

    The car is an invention, and yet there are many different manufacturers of cars.

    The same applies to rockets. Rocket technology is not novel. The Starship mould is likely obvious for those in the industry. Starship is a rocket. It has some flaps and wings, but those are again likely obvious to someone who works in aerospace.
    Reply
  • George²
    Yes, good. Obviously, I forgot to put the "wheel" in quotes, which means that I did not mean inventions and technologies that are not patented, but ones that are patented. Thanks for your understanding.
    Reply