In recent years, along with the appearance of new carrier rockets brought out by the international space giants, the gap between China and developed countries in this respect has gradually widened, this is manifested especially in the carrying capacity, reliability and environmental protection index as well as in the cost, said Luan Enjie, chief commander of China's Lunar Exploration Project, at The Third China Scientists Forum held Thursday.

According to Luan, China has successfully developed 12 different types of Long March carrier rocket series on its own, and has the capability of launching all sorts of orbiting satellites. However, the transport capacity of the carrier rockets of the United States, Japan, Russia and European Space Agency has all surpassed that of China, the biggest thrust of their rockets has reached 26-27 tons.

The launching success rate of China's Long March series of carrier rockets exceeds 90 percent, but there are only 70 launches for the 12 types of vehicles, averaging merely six launches for each type. Currently, the rocket propellants for the Long March series rockets are nitrogen tetroxide and uns-dimethylhydrazine, which are supposed to be corrosive, toxic and so are unhelpful to environmental protection. Many foreign countries have begun to use such clean fuels as hydrogen-oxygen fuel and kerosene. Luan believes that the transport capability, reliability and environmental protection index are the major problems that will possibly affect the international competitiveness of China's space project.

Luan says China has initially formed a six satellite series, namely, recoverable satellite, communication satellite, meteorological satellite, scientific experiment satellite, resources satellite, and navigational satellite, and it is prepared to form an ocean series, but China still lags behind Britain and the United States in term of the number of application satellites. There are few space activities in China, and the country has not as yet established a continuous operating system and mechanism for application satellites and a perfect service network.

Luan also says that now internationally, a universal, composite and serial design is adopted for new launch vehicles, which is conducive to mass production, reduction of cost and improvement in the reliability of the vehicles. China will also choose a new vehicle design for two engines and three modules, which is expected to raise the transport capability of the country's launch vehicles to 25 tons.

Luan indicates that the Space Exploration Project represents a zero breakthrough in China's deep space explorations, implementation of which will further upgrade China's status as a space giant, give an impetus to the development of relevant scientific research and industries and become a third milestone in the history of the development of China's space science and technology.

By People's Daily Online