08 February 2018
Yang Yuguang, Senior Researcher at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp, told China Daily that Chinese space workers appreciate SpaceX's spirit of innovation and creativity and are determined to continue to explore their own road maps toward success. "The rapid rise of SpaceX can't be copied in China because NASA has granted it an unprecedented level of support, ranging from infrastructure and technology to experience," he said. "That is why it has been able to grow so fast. By comparison, we have to accumulate experience and technology on our own." However, some of the US company's technical approaches can be considered by Chinese researchers as a reference, Yang said, noting China should particularly research and learn its expertise in producing and optimizing rocket engines.
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China’s space tech has a lot to catch up with the U.S.
08 February 2018
China has a lot of catching up to do with the US on space technology because it was late in the game and only a few of its private companies have such a mature technology, Chinese experts said after the successful launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy on 6 February. According to media reports, the Falcon Heavy can carry a payload of 16.8 tons to Mars. This shows China still lags far behind the US on space technology, because our most recently launched Long March-5 can only carry a payload of 25 tons into low Earth orbit, Huang Hai, Vice President of Beihang University's School of Astronautics.
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