I wonder how long before we see Burevestnik style nuclear engines for space rockets. Seems like you could send up much bigger payloads using a smaller rocket using this approach than traditional chemical rockets.
Paywalled. Is this about SLS or Starship?
it’s about starship https://archive.ph/wsPeJ
How do they get from a US Senate subcommittee warning that China might get ahead, in an attempt to hurry the US beaurocracy along and get rid of all the red tape of going through multiple agencies for approval, to turning that into a “giant leap for China”? The article doesn’t say anything about China doing much, they’re just talking about rockets they plan on building. The title also tries to imply there was some sort of failed launch in the US.
It also should be said that while their latest rocket has been sat on the pad since early September, it probably hasn’t been 100% ready for launch. They’ve been tinkering with bits, currently a motor believed to be from one of the grid fin stabilisers has been removed. However it’s a pretty common practice for contractors to try and push so they can say “well, we’re ready, why aren’t they?” in meetings.
Starship has already flown multiple times, landed successfully, and the Super Heavy booster has flown once. They’re a long way from a working passenger vehicle or a lunar lander, but so is everyone else, and it’s impossible to say who will get there first.
I guess it’s the part at the end:
Yang Liwei, the first Chinese astronaut to enter space 20 years ago and now deputy chief designer of China’s manned space flight project, told CCTV that early preparations had started on the selection and training of astronauts for China’s moon landing mission, including developing moon suits and learning how to manoeuvre a rover on the lunar surface.
Especially when you note that Chinese agencies very rarily says such things if the probablity of them delivering is uncertain.
I don’t doubt they’ll deliver, but at this stage they’re just talking about things - they haven’t done a static test fire or a launch attempt yet.
Nothing against the Chinese space program, but this article is hollow.
No it isn’t. China announced milestone in space program, while US who yet again unilaterally declaring it a race, mets with significant and so far unresolved obstacle. Thus the title while maybe a bit grandiose, though in line with the role of the “morning post” publication (they aren’t supposed to deliver the scientific papers but short news), is proper.
- A SpaceX representative has told a US Senate hearing that governmental red tape is holding up America’s Artemis III moon mission
- The FAA has been slow to grant approval for Starship’s second launch after the previous attempt exploded soon after take-off
lmao
