Scientists working on rocket to lift 130 tons
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E-mail China Daily, December 8, 2014
China is hoping to put a rover on Mars around 2020, complete a manned space station around 2022, and test a heavy carrier rocket around 2030, a top space scientist said yesterday.
Lei Fanpei, chairman of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, main contractor for the space program, was speaking after the launch of CBERS-4, a satellite jointly developed with Brazil, from the Taiyuan base in north China on a Long March-4B rocket.
It was the 200th flight of Long March variants since April 1970 when a Long March-1 carried China’s first satellite, Dongfanghong-1, into space. A feasibility study on the country’s first Mars mission has been completed and the goal is now to send an orbiter and rover to Mars.
There has been no official announcement about a Mars probe yet, but Lei expects a Long March-5 carrier, still at the development stage, to take the orbiter into a Martian orbit around 2020 from a new launch site on south China’s Hainan Province.
China’s space scientists have had their eyes on the Red Planet as their next destination since a successful soft landing on the moon late last year.
Last month, an actual-size model of a possible Mars rover was on display at Airshow China 2014, the first glimpse of how the vehicle might turn out. China made an unsuccessful attempt to reach Mars in 2011 aboard a Russian rocket, but failed to complete the mission because of an accident during orbital transfer.
China’s manned space station program is progressing steadily with the development and manufacture of major space products at key stages.
A new launch center in Hainan, the fourth after Taiyuan, Jiuquan and Xichang, is almost complete and can already launch some spacecraft. By around 2022, China’s first orbiting space station should be completed.
A powerful carrier rocket is essential for a manned moon landing and Chinese scientists are working hard on a powerful heavy carrier rocket to enable the success of such an enterprise, Lei said.
"We hope to make breakthroughs within four or five years on design and key technology for the heavy carrier, a solid foundation for developing such a rocket," Lei said.
Breakthroughs are needed on the overall design of the rocket, including development of a 460-ton thrust liquid oxygen and kerosene engine and a 220-ton liquid hydrogen engine.
"We hope to finish all these within the next 15 years, so the heavy rocket will make its first maiden flight sometime around 2030," Lei said
The rocket is envisaged as having a payload capacity of 130 tons to low Earth orbit.
Once in service, it will help with missions between 2030 and 2050, and secure China’s position in terms of space exploration and technology, he said.
The CBERS-4 launched yesterday is the fifth satellite in the Chinese-Brazilian Earth Resource Satellite program which began in 1988.
They are used in planning and land management, forestry, water conservation, environmental protection and agriculture.
The first, CBERS-1, was launched in October 1999 with the second and third, CBERS-2 and CBERS-2B, launched in 2003 and 2007. CBERS-3 was launched last December from Taiyuan but failed to enter orbit after a rocket malfunction.
There is an agreement in place to build CBERS-5, which is expected to be launched in 2017.
China started work on carrier rockets in 1956 and Long March rockets have since become the main carriers for satellites and spacecraft, taking more than 250 into space
Carrying capacity and safety have a direct impact on satellites and spacecraft, so China’s space program depends a lot on these rockets, said Li Tongyu of the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology.
China needs more capable, non-toxic and safe carrier rockets if it is to establish a manned space station and run other space programs.
Lei considers the Long March-5, which uses a non-polluting propellant, a breakthrough for large-thrust rockets.
It was designed with the space station in mind, Lei said.
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