China surpasses US in launching first liquid methane rocket into orbit

Tên lửa đầu tiên phóng lên quỹ đạo nhờ nhiên liệu mê tan và ô xy lỏng - Ảnh 1. — The Vermillion Bird 2 rocket launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in China on the morning of July 12.

Reuters reported on July 12 that a private Chinese company has just launched the world's first methane-liquid oxygen rocket into orbit, surpassing American rivals in a new generation of technology that promises to send spacecraft into space.

The Vermillion Bird 2 rocket was launched at 9 a.m. (local time) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Gansu Province, northeast China, and completed the flight as planned.

This is the second attempt to launch the Vermillion Bird 2 rocket by LandSpace, a Beijing-based company that is one of China's pioneers in commercial rocketry. The first launch in December 2022 failed.

According to the Global Times , the rocket is capable of putting a 1.5-ton satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit at an altitude of about 500 kilometers from Earth. The company said that later models of the rocket could increase the payload to 4 tons.

The rocket's engine uses propellant made from liquid oxygen and liquid methane, making it more environmentally friendly, reducing cleanup time from nearly two weeks to just a few hours, an important feature for reusable rocket technology.

Chu Tuoc 2 is a two-stage rocket with a diameter of 3.35 meters and a total length of 49.5 meters. The rocket has a launch weight of 219 tons and a launch thrust of 268 tons.

The rocket has six liquid-fuel engines, five of which use 80 tons of liquid oxygen and liquid methane as propellant. The sixth engine is a 10-ton propellant engine that helps control the rocket's direction and speed.

The successful test demonstrated the capabilities of the various systems of the Vermillion Bird 2 rocket, laying a solid foundation for the next phase of research and development of reusable rockets, the company said.

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