China's mightiest liquid-propellant rocket engine passes key test

Engineers in China's space industry conducted a key test of the country's most powerful liquid-propellant rocket engine on Saturday, marking a large stride in the development of a super-heavy carrier rocket.

Developed by the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology in Xi'an of 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 test's success was an important breakthrough in the research and development of the engine, which is four times mightier than the current strongest rocket engine in China that has a thrust of 120 tons.

The engine consumes liquid oxygen and kerosene and has the world's largest thruster chamber of a staged combustion rocket engine, according to designers.

It is expected to be the main propulsion on the Long March 9 rocket, a model under research and development that will be used to send Chinese astronauts to the moon.

Upon its completion, the Long March 9 will likely become one of the world's largest and mightiest launch vehicle.

Space officials have said the Long March 9 is under research and development at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology in Beijing and is expected to enter service around 2030.

The rocket will be 93 meters tall and will have a liftoff weight of 4,140 metric tons and a thrust power of 5,760 tons. The diameter of its core stage will be about 10 meters, according to designers at the Beijing academy.

The craft will be so powerful that it will be able to transport spacecraft with a combined weight of 140 tons to a low-Earth orbit hundreds of kilometers above the ground, and will also be capable of deploying spaceships weighing up to 50 tons to an Earth-moon transfer trajectory for lunar expeditions.

Once Long March 9 enters operation, its carrying capacity will be more than five times that of Long March 5, currently the mightiest in China's rocket family.

The Wenchang Space Launch Center in Hainan province has planned to construct new testing and support facilities as well as a new launchpad for the super-powerful rocket.

Long March 9 will be crucial to realizing the nation's ambitious plans of landing its astronauts on the moon and sending large robotic spacecraft to deep space.