SpaceX’s Starship spacecraft and Super Heavy rocket—collectively known as Starship—are a fully reusable space transportation system designed to transport both crew and cargo to orbit around the Earth, the Moon, Mars and beyond. As the most powerful launch vehicle ever developed, Starship can carry up to 150 metric tons in a fully reusable configuration and 250 metric tons in an expendable configuration.

While Starship has attracted significant attention, leading many to assume that the United States — primarily through SpaceX — is alone in developing a super-heavy rocket designed to lower launch costs and enable missions to Mars, SpaceX may soon face competition from China, which is also developing a super-heavy, reusable missile: the Long March 9.

Originally designed as an expendable vehicle, the Long March 9 has undergone a major redesign since its inception around 2016 and is now being developed as a reusable missile. This change was officially announced by China on April 24 during the nation’s Space Flight Day celebrations.

The development of this heavy-lift rocket is part of China’s 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025), with reusable rockets a key objective in the country’s 2021 White Paper on space activities. First release of Long March 9’s basic three-stage design is targeted for 2030, while the reusable two-stage version is expected to be released in 2040.

At 114 meters tall, Long March 9 is designed to carry at least 150 tons into low Earth orbit (LEO) in one of its planned configurations. It will have a two-stage design, with the first stage powered by 30 YF-215 engines that use liquid oxygen and liquid methane — propellants similar to those used by SpaceX’s Super Heavy rocket, which has 33 Raptor engines that use the same propellants.

Like SpaceX’s spacecraft, China’s Long March 9 aims to significantly reduce launch costs. While Long March 5, which can carry 25 tons to LEO, costs about $3,000 per kilogram to LEO, Long March 9 is expected to drop that to about $1,500 per kilogram — in line with SpaceX’s Starship estimates .

SpaceX’s Starship has already completed five test flights, with the sixth scheduled for November. The company aims to have Starship operational by September 2025 to support NASA’s Artemis 3 mission to the Moon.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said “building a new world on Mars is now possible” after Starship, the world’s largest and most powerful rocket, surpassed the capabilities of NASA’s Saturn V Moon rocket.

Standing 400 feet (122 meters) tall, Starship is the most powerful rocket ever built. The stainless steel vehicle consists of two fully reusable stages: a massive booster called the Super Heavy and a 165-foot (50-meter) tall upper stage known as the Starship, or simply the Ship. Both stages are powered by SpaceX’s next-generation Raptor engines – 33 on the Super Heavy and six on the Ship.

“More importantly, Starship is designed to be completely reusable, using low-cost propellant – 80% liquid oxygen and 20% liquid methane,” Musk said in a post about X. “This brings the cost per ton to orbit by about 10,000 lower %. than that of Saturn V”.

China’s ambitions with the Long March 9 are clear: to establish a permanent presence on the Moon, build infrastructure in stable gravitational zones such as the Earth-Moon and Earth-Sun Lagrange points, and develop space-based solar power satellites through orbit assembly. and manufacturing. Ultimately, China aims to create a low-cost, end-to-end space logistics system capable of supporting long-term space exploration and development.