China recently celebrated its sixth “National Space Day,” and as a part of the celebration, Chinese space officials emphasized the Chang’e-5 mission’s recent return to Earth with lunar samples. Some of the samples were also showcased during the event. The event also witnessed the announcement of China’s first Mars rover, Zhurong that is slated to land on Mars in May.
Point-to-point transportation on cards
The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology also demonstrated the potential for suborbital point-to-point transportation. It will enable vehicle launches from Earth, reaches into suborbital space, and lands halfway around the globe, all this in less than an hour.
The promotional video shared on Weibo shows two concepts to pull off suborbital passenger flights 20 years from now. The first concept looks similar to SpaceX’s Starship vehicle. The video shows a large vehicle, which can take off as well as land vertically.
Striking resemblance to SpaceX
The concept is strikingly similar to SpaceX’s Starship; it has the same shiny exterior, and the first two stages look very similar in functionality. However, Starship has been promoted as a vehicle to ferry humans to the lunar as well as the Martian surface. The concept was first showcased by SpaceX in 2017, showing a suborbital flight time of just 39 minutes from New York City to Shanghai on Starship.
The second concept showcased in the Chinese video suggests a horizontal takeoff and landing using some kind of electromagnetic catapult. These new concepts are a part of China’s plans to create global point-to-point transportation by 2045.
This isn’t the first time the Chinese space program has taken cues from SpaceX. The space agency has shown interest in reusing rocket first stages. Back in 2019, the Chinese Long March 2C rocket tested “grid fins,” similar to the ones used by the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. It helps the spacecraft steer through the atmosphere while the reentering process.
