DgcityChina has formally approved development of the Long March 9, a super-heavy rocket powerful enough to haul large payloads to the moon, Mars and beyond, with a maiden flight planned for 2030. The announcement, presented at a space forum in Xi’an, fills in the centrepiece of the country’s long-term deep-space and lunar-base plans.
The specifications place the Long March 9 among the largest rockets ever built. Its first stage will cluster 30 methane-burning engines to produce about 6,000 tonnes of thrust at lift-off. On lunar missions the vehicle is expected to send roughly 50 tonnes toward the moon, a figure its designers illustrated as the weight of about eight elephants. Payloads destined for Mars or other deep-space targets would be similarly scaled up from anything China can launch today.
Methane is a deliberate choice. Compared with older kerosene engines, methane burns cleaner, leaves less soot on engine components and is easier to reuse, all important if the first stage is to fly repeatedly. Methane can also in principle be manufactured on Mars from the carbon dioxide atmosphere, a property that links the engine choice to plans for sustained exploration rather than a single flag-planting mission.
The design has evolved considerably since an early mock-up appeared at the Zhuhai air show in 2022. Earlier concepts imagined a more traditional expendable giant; the version now heading toward production emphasises reusability, clustered engines and the kind of operational cadence China’s commercial launch sector has begun to demonstrate at smaller scales.
The rocket is needed because the country’s lunar ambitions have grown heavier. Crewed landings require sending a lander, a crew spacecraft and the propellant to get between them. A permanent research base at the lunar south pole, the stated goal of the ILRS framework China is promoting with international partners, demands bulldozers, habitation modules, power systems and surface vehicles. None of that fits comfortably on existing rockets.
Long March 9 also opens doors closer to home. Presentations tied the vehicle to space-based solar power stations, an idea that would require lifting thousands of tonnes of modular hardware and assembling it in orbit, and to large interplanetary missions that are impractical under current mass limits.
The schedule is ambitious. A first flight in 2030 means engine qualification, stage testing, integration and maiden launch must all come together within four years. China’s rocket establishment has shown it can move quickly when a programme is prioritised, but super-heavy vehicles have a history of delays everywhere they have been attempted.
If the timeline holds, the Long March 9 will enter service just as China’s crewed lunar programme moves from uncrewed rehearsals to landings, giving the country the lift capacity to turn short visits into the permanent moon presence its planners have described for years.
