(poignant music)
- [Narrator] This is Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin rocket ship
that takes tourists to the edge of orbit,
and this is a model from CAS Space,
a Chinese company that's been tagged
by the government to send its first tourists
to space as soon as 2024.
We compare the two vehicles,
because the company that can perfect
the reusable space rocket and make it cheaper,
could get one of the first cracks
at accessing the larger space economy.
- [Pilot] Welcome to space!
- [Narrator] In 2021, a flurry of commercial space flights
pioneered by American companies began taking off,
and they've been working for years
to develop their vehicles,
and recently China decided to join the race.
Last year, CAS Space, which was created
by the country's top scientific think tank,
laid out plans for its space rocket.
- China's rather a latecomer in space tourism,
but then also very aggressive in their timelines.
- [Narrator] Blaine Curcio is a space industry consultant,
and he focuses on the Chinese and US markets,
providing analysis for commercial space companies
that look to broaden their footprint.
- CAS Space, they talk about wanting
to have their first demonstration flight
of their space tourism vehicle in 2022,
and then finally space tour,
like actual space tourism flights by 2024.
- [Narrator] Though a lot of uncertainties lie ahead
for this commercial project,
Curcio says these deadlines aren't impossible.
(siren beeps) (rocket engine roars)
In the past few years China's national space program
has had a good track record.
It was the first to land a Rover
on the far side of the moon,
then sent another one to Mars
and started building its own space station.
So to catch up, CAS Space is planning to offer flights too.
Its trips will look less like SpaceX.
- We're seeing the world
every 90 minutes.
- [Narrator] And Virgin Galactic.
- [Space Traffic Control] Fire, fire.
- [Narrator] But more like Blue Origin.
(rocket engine hisses)
- They are going to the edge of space
where people have a couple of minutes of weightlessness.
- Quentin Parker's been researching
global space programs for over 40 years,
and has recently been focused on projects
coming out of China.
- The design of these rockets is driven strongly
by what you need to do with it.
- [Narrator] So Blue Origin and CAS Space
have similar designs and both say the journey
is about 10 minutes.
First, the rocket will launch up into the sky,
then it will release the capsule that carries the tourists.
As the rocket comes back down vertically,
the capsule will continue into suborbital flight,
going across the Karman line, an imaginary boundary
between Earth's atmosphere and outer space.
Then the capsule will return to Earth separately.
(bell rings)
Blue Origin completed three human flights last year,
using the same vehicle for each trip.
While CAS Space hasn't tested a rocket,
the company says it's also designing one
that will be reusable.
- Reusability is what drives down the cost
so significantly and makes so many of these plans viable.
- [Narrator] One key to reusability is at the bottom.
The engines are designed to throttle and restart.
(rocket engine hisses)
So they can be fired to take off
as well as control the landing.
But this is where both companies' designs
start to look different.
Blue Origin relies on only one engine
which has worked stably for each of its human flights.
According to CAS Space,
its rocket will use five of these.
Parker says multiple engines could provide
more thrusting points to help ensure
that the rocket remains intact.
- If you have five engines, then if one misbehaves,
you could possibly compensate with the other four.
- [Narrator] There's another factor that could determine
what kind of reusable rocket may become the popular model:
the rocket fuel.
Blue Origin uses a combination
of liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen,
while CAS Space is planning on using kerosene
and liquid oxygen.
And both choices have environmental
and financial pros and cons.
- [Quentin] Kerosene mixed with liquid oxygen is dirtier
than what Blue Origin does,
but it's actually much, much cheaper.
- [Narrator] Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos has said
working with liquid hydrogen is challenging,
but that this fuel component would be important
for the company's future projects.
CAS Space said the design of its engine
is meant to keep costs low.
- So it's actually, if you're going commercial
you need to see what is the best option
and it becomes a more viable commercial proposition.
You can make a profit.
- [Narrator] And to make these plans commercially viable,
Blue Origin's rocket and the one planned by CAS Space
would use different landing systems.
The Chinese company is designing a tower
that will catch the rocket,
whereas Blue Origin uses fins, drag breaks,
and landing legs to help it touch down softly.
Space companies are still weighing how much to invest
and determining the demand for these types of trips,
since reserving a seat is expensive.
The mastering the reusable technology
ultimately isn't only about tourism.
- Space tourism is a very small part
of the overall space economy right now,
but in terms of the technology side of things,
reusable rockets are definitely a really big enabler
of a lot of other things.
- [Narrator] The race for a better rocket
includes launching satellites and sending crew
and cargo to space stations.
Even one day, facilitating deep space exploration
to the moon or Mars.
(rocket engine roars)
But industry experts say there's currently
a launch bottleneck for some of these missions
because there aren't enough rockets,
and building one can take months, if not years,
and cost millions or even billions of dollars.
(rocket engine roars)
So the company that could perfect the reusable technology
would not just help relieve that bottleneck,
but also grab a larger slice of the growing industry.
Blue Origin and CAS Space didn't respond
to our request for comment.
For China, these commercial possibilities
could help further open up its space program
which has been strictly controlled by the government.
- [Blaine] They want commercial companies to play
a bigger role in innovation,
so I think that's going to be increasingly important,
even for the things like the high level
civil Chinese space program.
- [Narrator] And for US companies,
these commercial possibilities
may mean a closer relationship with NASA,
which has already partnered with Blue Origin
for its launch services.
For now, the space race for tourists is just the first step.
- We're still waiting for the game changer
in terms of propulsion technology,
but reusable rockets and reusable tech
are making big strides around the world
and getting more efficient and more reliable and more safe.
- [Narrator] And if this game changer arrives,
it'll open up the potential of a much larger future
in space for both the US and China.
(poignant music)