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Zhang Tong

A Chinese Long March-12 rocket launched last week used a new super fuel that boosted the rocket’s payload capacity by 10 per cent, according to its developer.
As China expands its role in space with a series of ambitious lunar missions and puts growing numbers of commercial satellites in orbit, demand for larger payloads is increasing.
Instead of designing bigger, more expensive airframes, The Beijing Aerospace Test Technology Research Institute, a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), has been working on ways to maximise the energy density of the fuel used.
Most rocket launches today use liquid oxygen-kerosene (kerolox) engines, but the fuel mixture they have traditionally used – based on refined petroleum – has now reached its performance limits.
Instead, researchers have developed a new “high-energy synthetic kerosene” to fire the engines.
The CASC said last week that this boosted the engine’s specific impulse – a measure of engine efficiency, similar to fuel economy in cars – by around eight seconds.
A higher specific impulse means the engine generates more thrust from the same amount of fuel – and even an extra eight seconds is enough to increase a rocket’s payload capacity by hundreds of kilograms.
This allows rockets to carry more commercial satellites or heavier scientific instruments for deep-space missions.
Last Wednesday’s launch from the southern island of Hainan was the culmination of a 13-year effort, the CASC said.
“Formed in 2013, the research team overcame complex engineering hurdles, including highly efficient synthesis, precision purification and heat-transfer coking control,” it added.

The fuel also ran a “ground-testing gauntlet” using multiple engine variants with a thrust capacity ranging from 18 tonnes to 120 tonnes.
The team then upscaled production to take the fuel from the lab to the launch pad. It now operates a production line that can produce 400 tonnes a year and also plans to build a 2,000-tonne facility.
The final challenge was overcoming Hainan’s heat and humidity, and the impact of sea salt, which can corrode sensitive equipment and disrupt electronics.
To counter this, the team developed a smart fuelling system that controlled temperature and fuel flows.
The new fuel may have major implications for future space launches, where kerolox remains an industry standard.
At present China’s main launch vehicles rely on it. For example, it is used to power the boosters of the heavy-lift Long March-5, the core stage of the lighter Long March-6 and the whole of the mid-heavy lift Long March-7.
It is also used by firms such as the US company SpaceX, which uses a similar blend to power its Falcon-9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.
The first privately developed Chinese liquid-fuel rocket to reach orbit, the Tianlong-2, also used an alternative propellant – a kerosene synthesised directly from coal that was developed by another CASC subsidiary, the 165th Institute.


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With conventional engines reaching their limits, researchers have been trying to find ways to boost fuel efficiency


With conventional engines reaching their limits, researchers have been trying to find ways to boost fuel efficiency.


United States

SpaceX

China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation

China’s new ‘super fuel’ could help Long March rockets increase payload by 10%

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}With conventional engines reaching their limits, researchers have been trying to find ways to boost fuel efficiency

With conventional engines reaching their limits, researchers have been trying to find ways to boost fuel efficiency