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> And that’s before we start counting in China China is... weird. Most of the rockets they launch are small hypergolic rockets (Long March 2-4) with clear ICB
by nordsieck 2y ago
> And that’s before we start counting in China
China is... weird.
Most of the rockets they launch are small hypergolic rockets (Long March 2-4) with clear ICBM heritage. Which are multiple generations "behind" Ariane 6.
They do have some more modern cryogenic rockets, but they can't seem to scale those operationally. Presumably it'll happen eventually. But who knows when that'll be.
- JumpCrisscross 2y ago> Most of the rockets they launch are small hypergolic rockets They’re decently far along on their reusable booster [1], with a methalox engine being developed by a private company [2]. Of course, everything looks cute until it flies. But that programme is arguably ahead of anything ArianeSpace is working on. [1] https://spacenews.com/china-to-debut-large-reusable-rockets-in-2025-and-2026/ https://spacenews.com/china-to-debut-large-reusable-rockets-... [2] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longyun_(rocket_engine) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Longyun_(rocket_engine)