How far are we from Musk?

At 06:08 on April 28, 2024, Beijing time, Musk’s Space Exploration Technology Company successfully launched 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. So far, the total number of Starlink satellites launched has reached 6,304. On May 2, Musk used a 20-hand Falcon 9 rocket to complete the launch of two World Observation Corps satellites. This is the second 20-hand Falcon rocket currently in service by SpaceX. This launch is also the 45th launch mission of Space Exploration Technology Company in 2024. At present, reusable rocket technology has become one of the important trends in future rocket development. Comparing the development of my country’s rocket technology, on April 14, 2024, the 130-ton reusable liquid oxygen kerosene engine developed by the Aerospace Science and Technology Group completed two starting ground ignition tests. So far, the engine has completed 15 repeated tests, 30 ignition starts, and the cumulative test time exceeded 3,900 seconds. This is also the latest report by the national team on reusable rocket technology. At the same time, my country’s private rocket companies have also made a lot of attempts on reusable rockets. On November 2, 2023, Interstellar Glory successfully completed the vertical takeoff and landing flight test of the Hyperbolic 2 reusable rocket. On January 19, 2024, the first large-scale vertical take-off and landing flight test mission of the Zhuque-3 reusable vertical take-off and landing recovery verification rocket independently developed by Blue Arrow Aerospace was a complete success. From this, we can see that our country’s reusable rocket technology has not completed the most critical “orbital” link. Compared to Musk, we still have a big gap. The road is full of obstacles and long, but it will come soon. If we keep on walking, we will have a promising future.