China has tested the engine for a rocket that will take a man to the moon

Three ground tests of a new hydrogen-oxygen engine for a super-heavy rocket were successful

completed on Friday, September 30, South reportsChina Morning Post with reference to the developers. According to representatives of the Beijing Technological Experimental Institute of Astronautics, all technical difficulties in the first prototype of the YF-79 engine were successfully overcome.

The 25-ton YF-79 ishydrogen-oxygen engine with expansion thrust cycle. It is being developed for the super-heavy Long March 9 rocket intended for deep space missions such as crewed moon landings and Mars exploration.

Ground tests of the rocket engine. Photo: BAEIT

The developers aim to make the YF-79 the most powerful rocket engine of its type, capable of multiple ignition and powering the landing probe in the last stage.

"Changzheng-9" is a three-stagebooster rocket. YF-79 is the engine of the last, third stage. A 500 ton kerosene-oxygen booster cycle engine, the YF-130, is under development and will be used in the first stage and booster. Last year, CASC completed key milestones in the development of the second stage engine, the YF-90, a 220-ton secondary combustion hydrogen-oxygen engine.

Announcement of the successful development of the Chinese lunarThe program followed immediately after yet another delay in the NASA mission. The US space agency said last week that a hurricane was pushing the Artemis mission -- the launch of a rocket that would return humanity to the moon -- to November.

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