China has unveiled the two-stage reusable configuration of the Long March 9 heavy-lift rocket at the ongoing 15th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, which opened in south China's coastal city of Zhuhai on Tuesday.
Designed with an idea of modular, universalization and serialization, the heavy launch vehicle has three planned configurations - a three-stage version, a two-stage version and a two-stage completely reusable version.
The reusable configuration is highlighted by the rocket designer - the First Research Institute of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation – at this year's Zhuhai Airshow.
"The heavy-lift rocket has a capacity of 100 tons in low-Earth orbit and 50 tons in lunar transfer orbit, which can cover the launch needs of various space missions from low orbit to deep space exploration," said Chen Ziyu, a designer at the institute.
The designer said that they will achieve the heavy carrying capacity and full reuse of the rocket in two steps. The first step will focus on building the basic model of the heavy rocket to greatly improve the country's ability to access the space, and the second step will be building a two-stage fully reusable configuration to largely reduce costs and increase efficiency of launching and recovering rockets, enabling the country to have the capacity of large-scale regular space transportation.
"Our ultimate goal is to have a two-stage fully reusable configuration. And different configurations can be adapted to the launch needs of missions to different orbits," Chen said.
The highly-anticipated biennial aerospace trade event, also known as Airshow China, will run through Sunday. It has attracted 1,022 companies from 47 countries and regions to showcase their star aviation and aerospace products, including a record number of products being debuted to the public at the event.
China unveils two-stage reusable configuration of Long March 9 heavy-lift rocket
A Japanese lawmaker has raised concerns over Japan's push to expand its military and its nuclear policy.
Responding to some politicians' dangerous tendency towards possessing nuclear weapons, Takara Sachika, a member of Japan's House of Councilors, said that Japan's push to strengthen its military, combined with what she called a misguided nuclear policy, not only heightens regional tensions but also directly threatens regional security.
"I think this is completely unacceptable. Japan is a country that has suffered atomic bombings and is one of the nations most aware of the threat posed by nuclear weapons. Yet such a country is openly discussing the issue of possessing nuclear weapons and even attempting to revise the principle of not allowing the introduction of nuclear weapons, one of the Three Non-Nuclear Principles. This is an extremely serious problem," Takara said.
Takara said the Japanese government's tendency to expand its military capabilities is completely contrary to the Constitution.
"From the perspective of Japan's Constitution, Japan should never have adopted a policy of ensuring security by strengthening military capabilities. Yet today, enormous effort is being poured into military expansion, and that in itself is a serious problem," said the lawmaker.
At a Diet meeting in early November 2025, Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said that what she described as the Chinese central authorities' "use of force on Taiwan" could constitute a "survival-threatening situation" for Japan, and suggested the possibility of armed intervention in the Taiwan Strait, drawing strong criticism worldwide.
Takara urged Takaichi to retract her erroneous remarks as soon as possible.
"I think there is a very big problem with making such remarks that provoke other countries. It is necessary to thoroughly examine the facts as soon as possible and withdraw the relevant remarks," she said.
Japanese lawmaker criticizes nuclear weapons remarks as threat to regional security
