BEIJING, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- China's commercial reusable launch vehicle sector continues to make steady progress, as a company announced on Friday that it had completed a long-duration test firing of an engine for a large recoverable carrier rocket.
Deep Blue Aerospace, a commercial space startup based in Wuxi, east China's Jiangsu Province, said it recently completed a 100-second static-fire test of its Thunder-RS engine, a 130-tonne-class liquid-oxygen kerosene engine designed for the company's large reusable rocket, Nebula-2.
The test reached 1,297.5 kilonewtons of thrust, or about 132.3 tonnes. The company said multiple short-duration test firings had been conducted previously to evaluate engine performance, with no anomalies recorded.
The recent 100‑second run was the engine's first crossing of that steady‑state duration threshold, serving as a comprehensive verification of its performance, the company said.
Rocket reusability can greatly cut launch costs and boosts launch frequency, making it key to achieving large-scale, routine access to space.
China launched the reusable rocket Zhuque-3 on Wednesday morning, achieving its first recovery of a rocket's first stage on land, marking the country's first successful land-based recovery. This mission followed the successful sea-based net recovery of the Long March-10B's first stage on July 10.
More models of Chinese reusable rockets are scheduled to conduct tests this year. ■
