Powerful Chinese space rocket engine passes ‘milestone’ test

Aerospace developer says the world-leading YF-130 outperformed China’s YF-100 workhorse by four times

The liquid oxygen-kerosene machine will be a major component in realising the country’s lunar and Mars ambitions

Reading Time:2 minutes

The engine is put through its paces at China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s No 6 Institute on Saturday. Photo: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

Published: 8:00pm, 6 Nov 2022

A Chinese aerospace company has declared its test of the country’s largest-thrust liquid rocket engine a success, calling the results a milestone in China’s ambitions to land astronauts and build a base on the moon.

The whole-system test of the 500 tonne-thrust, dual-nozzle liquid oxygen-kerosene engine – the most powerful of its kind in the world – was conducted on Saturday by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation’s No 6 Institute, the main developer of liquid fuel rocket engines in the country.

Code-named YF-130, the engine outperformed China’s 120 tonne-thrust YF-100 workhorse by four times, the corporation said on its WeChat account.

The new engine’s 500 tonne maximum thrust also surpasses Russia’s RD-180, the most powerful liquid fuel rocket engine in use now.

The engine, which took a decade to develop, “innovatively adopted a fully digital design and management model, and scored a series of key technology breakthroughs”, the developer said.

The engine will help power China’s lunar and Mars missions. Photo: China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

The YF-130 is expected to be used to power the Long March 9, a super heavy-lift rocket China is developing to send astronauts to the moon by 2030 and set up a lunar research station with Russia and other potential international collaborators around 2035.

Select Voice

Choose your listening speed

Get through articles 2x faster

1.25x

250 WPM

Slow

Average

Fast

00:0000:00

1.25x