BEIJING: Engineers in China’s space industry conducted a key test of the country’s most powerful liquid-propellant rocket engine on Saturday, a step forward in the development of a super-heavy carrier rocket. Developed by the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology in Xi’an, Shaanxi province, the 500-metric-ton thrust engine’s first ignition test took place at the academy’s testing facility in a Xi’an suburb. It was a “complete success”, the academy said in a news release. The achievement is an important breakthrough in the research and development of the engine, which is four times mightier than China’s strongest rocket engine, which has a thrust of 120 tons. The engine consumes liquid oxygen and kerosene and has the largest thruster chamber of any staged combustion rocket engine in the world, according to designers. Wang Yanan, editor-in-chief of Aerospace Knowledge magazine, said such a large, powerful rocket engine must incorporate a state-of-the-art design, sophisticated components and reliable manufacturing techniques that can only be made by a great space power such as China. “This kind of engine is a must-have if you want to send astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit and deploy probes to deep space,” he said, noting only the United States and the former Soviet Union had developed and built heavy-lift rocket engines.
–The Daily Mail-China Daily news exchange item
