China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
china-in-space.com
China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
1–10 of 76 posts
Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
#2That's awesome.
Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.
Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
#3That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.
If you haven't been following space updates closely, the US is _already_ in a race with China, especially in regards to the Artemis (moon) missions. That being said it's mostly being used as an excuse to keep SLS alive and prop up the legacy space contractors... It's hard to lose a contest you won 60 years prior...
Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
#4That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.
If you haven't been following space updates closely, the US is _already_ in a race with China, especially in regards to the Artemis (moon) missions. That being said it's mostly being used as an excuse to keep SLS alive and prop up the legacy space contractors... It's hard to lose a contest you won 60 years prior...
What use is the stuff that went on 60 years in the past when most people involved with it are dead and a lot of the knowledge has been lost in the meantime?
Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
#5Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you haven't been following space updates closely, the US is _already_ in a race with China, especially in regards to the Artemis (moon) missions. That being said it's mostly being used as an excuse to keep SLS alive and prop up the legacy space contractors... It's hard to lose a contest you won 60 years prior...
What use is the stuff that went on 60 years in the past when most people involved with it are dead and a lot of the knowledge has been lost in the meantime?
I don't necessarily think the knowledge is lost, but the second system effect sure is in full swing.
Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
#6That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.
Lots of more countries involved in sending stuff to space :) In 2025, 12 countries (so far): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_spaceflight#By_country
Seems like every month there is ~30 launches (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_spaceflight#Orbital_la...), November has mostly US and China, but also have (or will have) India, Turkey, Japan, Russia and Italy as countries with launches. Pretty great to see that more nations are getting involved.
Randomly, I stumbled upon the Shijian series of satellites, apparently featuring an arm that could tow other satellites. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shijian
Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
#7That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.
Lots of more countries involved in sending stuff to space :) In 2025, 12 countries (so far): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_spaceflight#By_country Seems like every month there is ~30 launches ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2025_in_spaceflight#Orbital_la... ), November has mostly US and China, but also have (or will have) India, Turkey, Japan, Russia and Italy as countries with launches. Pretty great to see th…
> Lots of more countries involved in sending stuff to space
But only two investing in high-cadence, high-mass capabilities.
Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
#8Earlier quoted context omitted.
What use is the stuff that went on 60 years in the past when most people involved with it are dead and a lot of the knowledge has been lost in the meantime?
I don't necessarily think the knowledge is lost, but the second system effect sure is in full swing.
It isn’t lost. But it’s decaying.
I remember picking through an aerospace scrapyard in North Hollywood a decade ago with extremely-talented launch engineers (and entrepreneurs). The aim was to look at parts, measure them and figure out why they were built like they were. We looked, a little, at stuff like nozzles. But mostly we focussed on bolts, joiners, turbine blades and the like.
Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
#9Multiple reusable rockets will drive prices down to a modest increment over the cost. Even rockets similar to Falcon 9 will have this effect, to the benefit of launch customers (and detriment of SpaceX, losing their effective monopoly.)
(Not sure why this lesson in economics got a downvote?)
Re: China Has Three Reusable Rockets Ready for Their Debut Flights
#10That's awesome. Secretly (?) I'm hoping for another "space race"— this time between the U.S. and China. I'm hoping this for the U.S.'s sake. I'm hoping that good can come of it.
I can't help but wonder about why countries are doing this. Launch detection? Cameras? Other secret use? Making money for commercial sats? (Starlink, maybe GPS-equivalent, other?)