China’s next generation rocket engine to power ambitious space programme
- State-owned contractor says significant advances in several key technologies have been achieved for the new engine
- Greater fuel efficiency will increase power for future planetary missions
According to state-owned Science and Technology Daily, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CSAC) has made significant advances in several key technologies for the new engine, which will have a much higher fuel efficiency than those in service.
“It will better satisfy the demand for power by future rockets and important space missions of China,” said CSAC, the state-owned main contractor for China’s space programme.
China’s next five-year plan outlines three missions – the retrieval of samples from an asteroid, then from Mars, followed by a fly-by of the Jupiter system – all of which will require significant rocket power.
The unnamed hydrogen/oxygen engine is expected to eventually replace the YF-77 which powers the first stage of China’s Long March CZ-5 family of heavy-lift vehicle rockets.
Instead of the YF-77’s gas-generator cycle, the new rocket will use a staged combustion cycle, which increases efficiency by burning through the propellant more thoroughly, but also poses engineering design and build challenges.