China plans to take the fight to SpaceX with its reusable rocket program | CPT PPP Coverage

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The project, Long-Range Aerospace Transportation System, which is under the purview of its largest aerospace defense contractor, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), is equipped to carry a payload of more than 60 tonnes of cargo to near-Earth orbit, which is equatable to the carrying capacity of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket.

A critical step in advancing China’s space ambitions

The new project envisages a hypersonic plane that has a top speed crossing Mach 20, and this vessel “could deliver the same payload from Shanghai to an airport in San Francisco in less than an hour,” according to project lead scientist Song Zhengyu, of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, a CASC subsidiary in Beijing.

A research paper published by the team regarding the project details the requirement for the plane to be reused more than 100 times and have fewer than three failures per 1,000 flights. Researchers said the objectives were set after analyzing the pace of China’s technological advancements and international progress “pioneered by SpaceX.”

The success of the project will further China’s plans to develop a broadband mega constellation later this year to compete against SpaceX’s Starlink. To achieve this, the country will have to establish a 13,000-satellite low-Earth orbit network in the next few years.

Efforts to reduce the cost to $150 per kilogram

China’s Long March rockets have helped greatly in furthering the country’s space programs, as it offers one of the cheapest costs, rated at $3,000 per kilogram of cargo lifted to the lower-Earth orbit. In comparison, NASA’s services are estimated to cost more than $60,000 per kilogram put in orbit, according to SCMP.