China test fires ‘world’s largest, most hi-tech solid-fuel rocket engine’

Cutting-edge engine said to generate 500 tonnes of thrust, four times that of the liquid fuel-propelled Long March 5 engine

An even larger version of the engine, capable of producing 1,000 tonnes of thrust, is under development, China’s largest space contractor says

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Chinese space authorities say they have made a number of technological breakthroughs to hugely increase the payload capacity of solid-fuel rockets. Photo: Weibo

Published: 11:00pm, 19 Oct 2021Updated: 3:33pm, 21 Oct 2021

Corrected [3:22pm, 21 Oct, 2021]

[3:22pm, 21 Oct, 2021]
This story has been changed to clarify that it is the world's largest single-segment solid rocket.

China says it fired up the world’s largest single-segment solid-fuel rocket engine for the first time, at a ground testing facility in the country’s northwest on Tuesday.

The rocket’s 3.5-metre (11.5-foot) wide engine can generate 500 tonnes of thrust, according to the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). That is more than four times as powerful as the liquid fuel engine on the Long March 5, the largest launch vehicle in China’s space programme at present.

With its high mobility and near-instant launch capability, solid-fuel rockets are mainly used to deliver missiles or on other military platforms.

Most solid rockets are relatively small, in part because, in most circumstances, the delivery of a warhead to destination does not require so much thrust.

The 3.5-metre-wide engine (pictured) can generate 500 tonnes of thrust. Photo: Weibo

Chinese space authorities said they had made a number of technological breakthroughs to “massively increase the payload capacity of solid-propellant rockets”.

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