China’s space agency has unveiled an updated design of its first super-heavy reusable rocket which looks eerily similar to SpaceX’s Starship launch vehicle.
New images of the rocket, released at a major airshow in Zhuhai, China, indicate that the plan for the country’s Long March 9 rocket is a departure from the original design.
Instead of the initially proposed design of three stages and solid motors, the new model presented at the airshow is a two-stage launch vehicle closely resembling SpaceX’s reusable Starship rocket.
The design for the 114m-long rocket features a reusable first stage with 30 YF-215 engines that use methane and liquid oxygen as fuel, similar to the Raptor engines of SpaceX.
The engines are said to have a thrust of approximately 200tonnes, compared to Starship’s 33 Raptor engines that each offer thrust of about 280tonnes.
The second stage also looks like Starship’s with similar aerodynamic flaps positioned at a similar place on the rocket.
“China puts a Starship clone on its critical path for long-term settlement of the Moon,” American space journalist Eric Berger posted on X.
The airshow presentation suggests China intends to debut the rocket in 2033 along with a “heavy-duty launch vehicle system” and a return test at sea.
This isn’t the first time the Chinese space agency seems to have found inspiration from American designs.
In 2021, China unveiled a drone helicopter for future Mars missions that looked remarkably similar to Nasa’s Ingenuity chopper.
Last year, the Chinese agency revealed that its Mars helicopter design was a “foldable” quadcopter dubbed MarsBird-VI designed to have enhanced lift and performance in the thin Martian atmosphere.
Unlike Ingenuity, China said its chopper is even capable of collecting samples weighing up to 100g and returning them to its mission lander.
These developments come as China and the US are locked in a tight space race with both countries eager to set up bases on the lunar South Pole where there is likely to be water ice.
The US is teaming up with Elon Musk’s SpaceX for its upcoming lunar ambitions to put boots on the Moon.
Meanwhile, China is poised to use its conventional rocket for initial missions but is betting on its more powerful, reusable, Long March 9 for subsequent launches.
“We will work with our partners on joint demonstration of overall mission plans, joint design of the International Lunar Research Station, technical cooperation on projects, implementation of overall mission planning, and the sharing of scientific data,” Yang Xiaoyu, director of the system engineering department at China’s space agency, said.
