Three ground tests of a new hydrogen-oxidation engine for a super-bore rocket were successfully completed on Friday, 30 September, reporting South China Morning Post with reference to developers. According to the Beijing Experimental Institute of Astronautics, all technical difficulties in the first YF-79 engine prototype were successfully overcome.
The 25-ton YF-79 is a hydrogen-oxygen engine with an enlarged drive cycle and is being developed for the Changzhen-9 super heavy rocket designed for remote space missions such as the Luna landing and Mars exploration.
Developers seek to make YF-79 the most powerful rocket engine of its type capable of multiple ignition and powering a landing probe at the last stage.
Changjeng-9 is a three-stage booster rocket. YF-79 is the last, third-stage engine. A oxidized Kerosin engine with an additional combustion cycle of 500 tonnes, YF-130, is under development and will be used at the first stage and as an accelerator. Last year, CASC completed the key stages of the second-stage engine development: YF-90, 220-ton hydrogen-oxidant engine with an additional combustion cycle.
The announcement of the successful development of China's moonlight programme immediately followed another delay in NASA's mission, and last week the United States Space Agency reported that the hurricane had delayed the Artemis mission, the launch of a missile to bring humanity back to the Moon, to November.