China is preparing for intensified space missions and international
satellite launch services by developing a new family of powerful
launch vehicles, senior aerospace officials said yesterday in
Beijing.
Such carrier rockets will be used to launch a 20-ton, permanently
manned space station, said Zhang Qingwei, president of the China Aerospace
Science and Technology Corp (CASC).
To
realize its goal of exploring outer space and expanding shares in
the global satellite launch market, China has stepped up the design
and development of carrier rockets with non-toxic, non-pollution,
high-performance and low-cost qualities, he said.
Zhang said that developing the new generation of launch vehicles is
key to maintaining the country's edge in the world aerospace field
and boosting its economic expansion.
Launch capacity for the world's primary rockets exceeds 20 tons for
near-earth orbits and ranges up to 7 tons for geo-stationary
transfer orbits while for Chinese rockets, the figures stand at 9.2
tons and 5.1 tons respectively, Zhang said.
China plans to launch its attended space station "at an appropriate
time this century," Zhang said, declining to specify a
timetable.
China has tested two unmanned experimental space flights since 1999
to provide ground for sending astronauts into space, said Zhuang
Fenggan, chairman of the Science and Technology Commission of
CASC.
After realizing successful manned space flights, China will build
space stations. But Zhuang said the country should first build a
space lab that will be sporadically attended by researchers.
China's Long March rockets have yet to improve capacity to fulfill
the missions, however.
The country has an "imperative" need to catch up with the world's
pace in launch vehicle technology, and provide robust buttresses
for efforts including the establishment of space stations and space
production bases, Zhang said.
Worldwide, at least 30 satellites will be placed into
geo-stationary orbits each year by 2010, each weighing more than 4
tons.
The new launchers will be built on a modular design based on three
models of core stages - 2.25 meters, 3.35 meters and 5 meters in
diameter - powered by liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen and refined
kerosene, which produces powerful propulsion and leaves no
pollution or poison, he said.
Zhuang said China has already made breakthroughs in developing
liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen and refined kerosene, which will
make its rockets more environmentally friendly.
Upon completion, the new family of rockets - by combining the three
modules - will be able to cover a launch range between 0.5 ton to
25 tons for near-earth orbits and 4-13 tons for geo-stationary
transfer orbits, Zhang said.
One such rocket can be used to blast two 6-ton geo-stationary
transfer satellites into their orbits or launch a group of middle
and low-orbit satellites, he said.
"The new generation of carrier rockets will enable China to launch
all kinds of satellites to be developed in the world in the coming
20 to 30 years," he said. "This will dramatically boost the
competitive edge of the Long March rockets in the world
market."
Apart from space stations and a global launch service, Zhang also
envisioned a bright prospect for the use of the new launch vehicle
technology in China in the years to come.
The new rockets can be used to send large-scale astronomical
telescopes and explorers to the moon and Mars.
As
for the timetable of such new-type rockets, Luan Enjie, director of
the State Aerospace Bureau, said a preliminary study on such
rockets has been finished, and the work has shifted to research and
manufacturing of the sample models.
(China
Daily March 14, 2002)