Academician outlines rocket developments

China aims to develop a new series of small, medium, large and heavy-lift Long March carrier rockets by 2030 to meet the demands of its space operations, an expert said.

The capacity of Chinese rockets will reach 140 metric tons for low-Earth orbit, 44 tons for an Earth-Mars transfer orbit, 50 tons for an Earth-Moon transfer orbit and 66 tons for a geosynchronous transfer orbit by 2030, Long Lehao, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and a chief designer at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, said at Tsinghua University.

One of the new generation of rockets would be the heavy-lift Long March 9, with a core stage having a diameter of 10 meters, along with four boosters with diameters up to 5 meters.