China has manufactured a giant fuel tank 10 meters wide as part of the creation of its own superheavy launch vehicle Long March 9. The Chinese Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT) recently announced that with its development it has made a breakthrough necessary for the production of a fuel storage tank, strong, but at the same time thin and light enough to be used when launching rockets in the future.
The fuel tank was built according to the specifications for the old design of a one-time version of the Long March 9 rocket planned by China with a diameter of 9.5 m. Since then, China has announced that it is moving to a new reusable structure with a diameter of 10.6 m. To create such a large, but durable and lightweight fuel tank, Chinese engineers used advanced friction welding technologies, as well as special alloys used in the new design.
China’s widest and most powerful rocket is currently the Long March 5 family rocket with a diameter of 5 m, which can put about 22 tons of payload into low Earth orbit. The first flight of the superheavy Long March 9 will take place around 2030. The payload capacity of the new generation rocket will be about 150 tons.
The rocket will be used for the construction of the planned International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), which is China’s response to the American NASA Artemis project. It can be used to launch solar energy space infrastructure and deep space missions. CALT is a subsidiary of CASC, which is China’s state-owned main space contractor. Other CASC organizations specialize in rocket engineering, the development and construction of spacecraft, and the design of new engines.
Earlier, we reported on how the stage of the Chinese rocket was falling uncontrollably to the Earth.
According to Space
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