China aims for potent new solid-fuel rockets

China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, the nation's largest missile maker, is striving to build solid-propellant, heavy-lift carrier rockets as powerful as existing liquid-fuel types, according to a senior researcher.

Hu Shengyun, a senior rocket designer at the CASIC Fourth Academy in Wuhan, Hubei province, said CASIC intends to offer solid-propellant rockets as alternate launch vehicles for heavyweight spacecraft.

All of China's heavyweight spacecraft, including large satellites and manned spaceships, use liquid-fuel rockets as launch vehicles because their lift capacity is greater than existing solid-fuel models.