A newly published construction tender from Hainan Province provides the clearest evidence yet that China is moving forward with the development of the Long March CZ-9 super heavy-lift rocket.

The project includes a massive rocket assembly facility in Wenchang, often compared to SpaceX's Gigabay concept, that will be used to manufacture and assemble the rocket's stages locally rather than transporting them from other parts of China.The building is planned to be 380 meters long, 182 meters wide, and up to 119.4 meters tall, with heavy-duty cranes capable of lifting rocket stages weighing hundreds of tons.The CZ-9 has undergone multiple redesigns since its original conception in the early 2010s.

Earlier versions resembled NASA's Space Launch System, while more recent designs have adopted concepts associated with SpaceX rockets, including methane propulsion, large numbers of engines, and reusability.

The currently known configuration would stand about 110 meters tall, use 30 methane-fueled engines in its first stage, and be capable of placing approximately 150 tons into low Earth orbit or 50 tons on a lunar trajectory.

The most surprising detail revealed in the construction plans is the apparent accommodation for a payload fairing up to 15-16 meters in diameter and about 40 meters long.Such dimensions would exceed those of any conventional rocket fairing currently planned or in service.

While these measurements likely represent maximum design limits rather than the specifications of the initial CZ-9 version, they have sparked speculation about future variants intended for large lunar infrastructure, space-based solar power stations, or eventual crewed Mars missions.

Although many details remain uncertain, the documents indicate that 2026 marks the beginning of the physical construction phase of the CZ-9 program, with the assembly complex expected to be completed by 2028.