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‘Complete success’: China tests powerful rocket engine for moon landing
- Chinese space authorities say the engine will be used in future missions to the moon, Mars and beyond
- It has more than twice the thrust of US competitor to be used in Nasa-led Artemis missions
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A Beijing space research institute tested a new rocket engine that is twice as powerful as its American competitor in the race to put the next astronaut on the moon, according to China’s space authorities.
The ground test was carried out on Monday with “complete success”, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) said on Tuesday.
The engine will be used to launch China’s Long March 9 rockets, still under development, and propel astronauts in future missions to the moon, CASC said.
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The upper-stage rocket engine can generate a 25 ton-force – more than twice the thrust produced by the RL10, the US-made engine that is expected to take American astronauts back to the moon. Upper-stage rocket engines are used at high altitudes to generate additional boost to propel a spacecraft to its destination.
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CASC said it was “the world’s largest closed expander cycle engine test run”, marking a “breakthrough” in the development of a key technology for heavy-duty launch vehicles.
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