Successfully launched! Zhuque 2 takes an important step towards commercial aerospace!, The world's first rocket | Vermilion Bird | Global
Recently, China's independently developed Zhuque 2 rocket became the world's first liquid oxygen methane rocket to be successfully launched into orbit, attracting widespread attention.
In the first half of this year, both the Human 1 rocket from Relativity and the Starship from Musk SpaceX attempted to launch liquid oxygen methane rockets, but both failed. The Zhuque 2 spacecraft, which flew from the land of China to space, won the world's number one position amidst the pursuit and interception of a group of methane rockets, which is commendable.
The success of Zhuque 2 is a revolutionary breakthrough in rocket fuel and will usher in a new era of global commercial aerospace.
According to different fuels, rockets can be divided into solid rockets and liquid rockets. Among them, liquid rockets are the mainstream for space launches, and currently there are three common routes: liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, liquid oxygen kerosene, and liquid oxygen methane. Many domestic and foreign aerospace companies have targeted the liquid oxygen methane technology route. In addition to China and the United States, which have made the fastest progress and conducted launch experiments, the European Space Agency, Russia, India, and others are also conducting research on liquid oxygen methane engines.
At 9:00 am on July 12th, the Zhuque 2 Yao 2 carrier rocket was launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China. Photo by Wang Jiangbo
Liquid hydrogen, liquid oxygen, and liquid oxygen kerosene are mature technologies with a high success rate in launch. Why do space companies around the world still invest heavily in developing high-risk liquid oxygen methane rockets? Because it can significantly reduce the cost of interstellar travel and make future commercial spaceflight more affordable.
On the one hand, methane can be used, and the performance indicators of fuel such as propulsion efficiency and energy density are very good, which can meet the needs of aerospace. On the other hand, methane is extremely cheap, costing only a few yuan per kilogram, far lower than kerosene and liquid hydrogen. In addition, methane is widely present, and planets such as Mars, Titan, and Pluto all contain a large amount of methane, which can serve as a "refueling station" for humans to fly into deep space.
Most importantly, rocket reuse represents the future development direction of human spaceflight. Methane combustion is less prone to carbon deposition and less coking, making it more suitable for rocket recovery and reuse than kerosene engines. Musk's SpaceX company's "Falcon 9" and other recyclable rockets use liquid oxygen kerosene propellant, and the engine has obvious coking and carbon deposition, which poses obstacles for multiple recycling and reuse. If the propellant is replaced with liquid oxygen methane, the obstacles will be easily resolved.
Liquid oxygen methane is currently the most ideal power source for reusable rockets, which is more economical and suitable for future interstellar travel. The success of Zhuque 2 represents the feasibility of this technological route and opens up a new era of commercial aerospace for humanity.
Blue Arrow Aerospace, which developed the Zhuque 2 spacecraft, is a private aerospace company. The successful launch represents the success of China's modern commercial aerospace industry system. This new industrial system allows for the parallel development of the aerospace national team and the civil and commercial team. It can not only concentrate efforts to accomplish major tasks and tackle cutting-edge technologies, but also provide flexible and diverse commercial services to meet market demand.
Aerospace has always been a high investment and high-risk business, and success is not always smooth sailing. In 2018, Blue Arrow Aerospace Company's Zhuque 1 solid launch vehicle challenged the first private launch vehicle in China to enter orbit, but ended in failure; At the end of 2022, the Zhu Que 2 liquid oxygen methane rocket, which started anew, failed its first launch. But Blue Arrow Aerospace was not defeated by failure, but instead built its own research and development center, factory, test bench and other infrastructure, achieving complete self-developed and self-produced core components of the Zhuque 2 rocket, including the engine. It can be said that Blue Arrow Aerospace has built its own delivery capability around the product form of liquid oxygen methane engines and full rockets. The successful launch has given Blue Arrow Aerospace the potential to mass deliver liquid oxygen methane rockets to the market starting from 2024.
With the success of Zhuque 2, the liquid oxygen methane propellant station has become the "C position" of today's commercial aerospace, and Chinese private enterprises have also seized the initiative of global commercial aerospace competition. In the future, large-scale exploration of the stars and oceans by humans will require a significant reduction in aerospace costs, which cannot be achieved without the efforts of private enterprises and the investment of private capital. It is also a promising new track for Chinese private enterprises.
