Key Points
When Chinese space officials unveiled the design for the country's first super heavy-lift rocket nearly a decade ago, it looked like a fairly conventional booster..
Since then, China has been revising the design of this rocket, named Long March 9, in response to the development of reusable rockets by SpaceX..
Based on its latest specifications, the Long March 9 rocket will have a fully reusable first stage powered by 30 YF-215 engines, which are full-flow staged combustion engines fueled by methane and liquid oxygen, each with a thrust of approximately 200 tons..
In related news, last week, a quasi-private Chinese space startup, Cosmoleap, announced plans to develop a fully reusable "Leap" rocket within the next few years..
These are not the first times Chinese rocket programs have emulated SpaceX, such as when Space Pioneer planned to develop a Falcon 9 clone..
