China’s successful new rocket launch signals breakthroughs in nation’s space weaponry: military experts

A Long March 7 rocket, China’s new model carrier rocket, blasts off in Hainan province on Saturday. Photo: Reuters

It was just one launch, but the successful maiden flight of a new-generation carrier rocket on Saturday pointed to a multitude of breakthroughs in Chinese space weaponry, according to military experts.

The Long March-7 lifted off from Wenchang Satellite Launch Centre in the mainland’s southern-most Hainan province, carrying 13.5 tonnes of cargo – 90 per cent of which was taken up by the rocket’s special non-toxic fuel designed for multiple launch vehicles, plus wind-resistance devices, a re-entry capsule, a number of small satellites and other equipment.

For Macau-based military observer Antony Wong Dong, there were telling details in the Xinhua photos taken of the bullet-shaped re-entry module soon after it landed in the Badain Jaran Desert, in Inner Mongolia.

“The so-called re-entry capsule looks similar to China’s hypersonic glide vehicle DF-ZF,” Wong said.

China Tests New Rocket, Gets Ready to Build Lunar Base on Dark Side of Moon

It looks like the Chinese are going to the dark side of the moon, as their scientists have successfully tested the power system of a Long March-5 carrier rocket on Monday that will serve the Chang’e-5 lunar mission in 2017, Xinhua reported.

The engines of the rocket were launched from the ground. It was a good final test before the actual rocket launch next year, according to the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense.