Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test
by babesh on Wednesday December 09, 2020 @09:04PM
(#25368665)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2020_in_spaceflight
In 2020, China has launched more rockets to space than any other nation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chang%27e_5
It has a mission to bring lunar rock back to earth for the first time since the 70s.
So I would say that China has put quite a bit of energy in this area and is moving faster than other nations but not as fast as SpaceX.
Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test
by valuearb on Wednesday December 09, 2020 @11:39PM
(#25369787)
China launches a bunch of obsolete rockets with relatively small capacities. Long march 3 has half the capacity of a Falcon 9, Long March 2 is about one seventh the payload capacity.
They should be justly proud of their robotic lunar missions though.
Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test
by nickik on Thursday December 10, 2020 @01:03PM
(#25376448)
Go look at how much payload by weight was launched by China. Or how many different payloads.
> It has a mission to bring lunar rock back to earth for the first time since the 70s.
Yes its a fine mission, but its a mission that is not outside of the capability of others. There are simply many space missions that could be done.
Yes, China is doing things and the are moving fast, but your prediction and text were still over the top.
Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test
by babesh on Saturday December 12, 2020 @01:42AM
(#25396194)
That wasn’t my prediction. It was from another poster.
Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test
by babesh on Wednesday December 09, 2020 @09:33PM
(#25368913)
Opps. US passed China with the last few flights. Counting SpaceX and Electron in the US stats.
Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test
by oska on Thursday December 10, 2020 @12:17AM
(#25370044)
And SpaceX has another 3 launches planned for December (SXM-7, NROL-108 & Turksat 5A). Although the last one is on Dec 31, so could easily slip into next year.
Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test
by NikolaeVarius on Wednesday December 09, 2020 @09:09PM
(#25368718)
Why do the US numbers include electron?
Re:Starship – SN8 – High-Altitude Flight Test
by skissane on Wednesday December 09, 2020 @09:20PM
(#25368796)
Because the statistics are based on the nationality of company/agency that designs and builds the launch vehicle, not the launch site. So even though Soyuz launches from Kazakhstan and French Guiana, it is counted as a Russian launch since a Russian company (Energia) designed and built the rocket. Similarly, even though a lot of Electron launches are from New Zealand, the company that builds Electron is ultimately US-headquartered/US-controlled. (Rocket Lab was originally founded in New Zealand, but they moved their HQ and parent company to the US so are now considered a US company rather than a New Zealand one.)
China has not yet itself produced an engine anywhere close to a Raptor and they have been trying for quite a while.
China can not spend gigantic amounts of money on everything at once, and even if they do, it by far doesn't work all of the time.
When you are copying SpaceX you are always cooping something that is already outdated and SpaceX will not stop innovating.