China has successfully conducted a critical test of a new rocket engine designed for future manned Moon missions. During the test, three YF-100K engines were fired simultaneously, achieving a total thrust of 382 metric tons.
This new engine will be used by a heavy-lift launch vehicle called Long March 10, developed specifically to carry China’s next-generation spacecraft and lunar landing module. The Long March 10 rocket will be 92.5 meters, the height of a 32-story building, and have a takeoff weight of 2,189 metric tons. With its 2,678 tons of thrust, it will have the capacity to launch spacecraft of at least 27 tons to the Moon.
China’s plans for the first manned Moon landing include two Long March 10 launches from the Wenchang Space Launch Center. The first launch will carry the lunar landing module, while the second launch will send the crewed spacecraft. After these two vehicles meet in lunar orbit, the astronauts will switch to the descent module and land on the lunar surface. After completing their mission, they will return to the lunar orbiter via the descent module and eventually return to Earth.
This new rocket engine test by China is seen as a critical step for Moon missions and this success is recorded as an important milestone in the country’s space program. This development shows that China is one step closer to its ambitious goals in space exploration.
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