China's aerospace industry has made another breakthrough! The world's first liquid oxygen methane rocket, Zhuque 2, has been successfully launched in China | Methane | Global
CCTV News: At 9:00 am this morning, China's independently developed liquid oxygen methane rocket, the Zhuque 2 Yao 2 carrier rocket, was launched from China's Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and completed the flight mission according to the procedure, achieving a complete success in the launch mission. This mission is the second flight of the Zhuque 2 carrier rocket.
Breakthrough in the application of new low-cost liquid propellants
Zhuque 2 has become the world's first liquid oxygen methane rocket to successfully enter orbit, marking a breakthrough in the application of new low-cost liquid propellants in China's carrier rockets.
Zhuque 2 is a two-stage liquid rocket powered by liquid oxygen methane, capable of launching a spacecraft weighing about 4 tons into a solar synchronous orbit of 500 kilometers.
The use of liquid oxygen methane as fuel is the biggest difference between the Zhuque 2 rocket and the commonly used Long March series rockets. Methane in liquid oxygen methane is the natural gas we use in our daily lives. Methane is a fuel that is easy to extract and has mature technology. Therefore, compared to rocket fuels such as liquid hydrogen and kerosene, its price is relatively low. In recent years, countries around the world have been conducting research and development.
Dai Zheng, Deputy Chief Designer and Deputy Commander of the Zhuque 2 Launch Vehicle, stated that liquid oxygen methane has significant advantages in the future low-cost commercial launch vehicle reusable scenarios. It can be said that it is a very beneficial supplement to China's aerospace industry and also fills the gap in the spectrum of liquid oxygen methane rocket types.
In addition to being environmentally friendly and cost-effective, liquid oxygen methane also has the characteristic of being easy to reuse. Although the reuse of liquid oxygen kerosene engines has been achieved internationally, kerosene has a high carbon content and is prone to carbon accumulation and blockage in the engine after combustion, resulting in high reuse costs. However, methane combustion hardly accumulates carbon.
Dai Zheng, Deputy Chief Designer and Deputy Commander of the Zhuque 2 Carrier Rocket: The engine was once operated 7 times on a test bench in Huzhou, for a total of 2800 seconds. At this point, the carbon buildup is still very slight. From this perspective, it may need to work for a long time before undergoing a major overhaul, which is still very friendly for reusable rockets.
This launch mainly assesses the correctness and rationality of the testing launch and flight process plan of the carrier rocket, laying the foundation for the subsequent application flight and reusable rocket development of this type of rocket.
