Wakeup Call: China's Successful Moon Rocket Test

While our astronauts are preparing for the Artemis-II orbit of the Moon in March, China's military-led space program succeeded in launching and landing the core stage of their lunar rocket. 

Photos and videos reveal the CZ-10A/LM-10A core lifting their crew capsule (or a 'boilerplate' test version) complete with a test of the launch abort system. 

The suborbital test was followed by near-perfect landing in the sea, not on but 600 feet from their droneship. The landing succeeded even with one gridfin apparently disabled.

Note in the photos the launch escape tower which separated the capsule from the rocket, the droneship with a unique net-type stabilization mechanism, and the booster floating apparently intact by the ship.

The CZ-10A is similar in many ways to SpaceX's Falcon-9.

It is essentially the single core version of their CZ-10 like the Falcon 9. That's similar to Falcon Heavy--a Falcon-9 with two additional cores as boosters.

Their rockets would be nearly impossible to build without using stolen technology.

Two CZ-10 flights will be used in tandem for their lunar missions. 

The first rocket will send their lander to lunar orbit. Once in position, the second will then launch their astronauts, to rendezvous with the lander. 

Then, similar to Apollo missions, the crew will transfer to the lander, land, and return to the orbiting capsule for the return to earth. Meanwhile work progresses on the Chinese CZ-9, which is a copy of SpaceX's Starship, which would allow a single rocket, refueled in orbit, to carry future crews to and from the Moon. The CZ-9 may be a few years away, which is while the CZ-10 is being used to advance their first landing for strategic reasons.

This is a wakeup call. 

An orbital test of the CZ-10A is planned for sometime this year, perhaps very soon due to the success of this mission. A test launch of the 3-core CZ-10 is likely later this year or early next year. That could be an uncrewed orbital test, or more likely, copy Artemis-I and fly to orbit the Moon and return.

Assuming that they have successful tests with the two additional stages, and then a rendezvous test, China could send a crew to orbit the Moon this year, and land crew early next year.

China's conservative approach with an Apollo-like lander and no complex refuelings puts them ahead of the game at this point. All of their major components have been tested. 

Orbital flights of the landers, refueling tests, demonstration lunar landings and ascents--all these take time and overcoming failures on the way. Both will require a high launch cadence not yet seen by either to date. Both companies have the capability to make it happen though.

Let's hit the accelerator, go to three shifts a day, and advance the elements and testing of Artemis III as far as is safe. SpaceX and Blue Origin--that's your race. 

Americans back on the Moon! And let's prevent a Chinese territorial claim on the Moon.