FPI / August 8, 2024
Geostrategy-Direct
By Richard Fisher
A curious article from the 2023 volume of China’s Journal of Deep Space Exploration (JDSE) appears to compare the merits of two modes of transport to the Moon, direct ascent with a super heavy space launch vehicle (SLV) versus a relay system using a small space station located at the Earth-Moon Lagrangian Point L1 (EM-L1).
But given the dual-use nature of China’s space program and the employer of the article’s authors, it is also possible that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), which controls China’s space program, may also be considering a potential combat-capable space station located between the Earth and the Moon that could control access to the Moon.
The article is titled, “Research on large-scale low-cost space transportation system between the Earth and the Moon,” from the 2023 volume, number five issue of the Journal of Deep Space Exploration.
But the authors, Chen Rong, Wang Xiaowei, Deng Sichao, Gao Chaohui, and Zhuang Fangfang are all employed by the China Academy of Space Launch Technology (CALT).
CALT is a division of the larger state-owned China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) that designs China’s major space launch vehicles and spaceships.
At first the article appears to be comparing a Moon access architecture based on the United States SpaceX Corporation’s Starship reusable super heavy SLV, versus an architecture that uses a smaller SLV, a separate Cis-Lunar transport vehicle and then a small space station located at the Earth-Moon Lagrangian Point EM-L1, at which crew and fuel are transferred to a decent/ascent vehicle for the Moon mission.
However, it is also the case that CALT is developing reusable versions of its Long March-9 (LM-9) super heavy SLV that will greatly resemble Starship, as it first develops the smaller Long March-10 (LM-10) SLV for early Chinese manned Moon missions, that will also eventually have reusable versions.
As such, this article is most likely comparing Moon transport architectures based on these two CALT-designed SLVs.
The article does not explicitly identify its competing Moon access architectures as based on CALT’s Long March-9 and Long March-10, though its does credit the larger SLV with a Low Earth Orbit (LEO) payload of “hundreds” of tons, and the smaller SLV with a LEO payload of 45 tons, both within the potential capability of evolved LM-10 and LM-9 SLVs.
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