First Successful 10-Kilometer Vertical Takeoff and Landing Flight Test of China's Reusable Launch Vehicle

TapTechNews June 23rd news, TapTechNews learned from the official WeChat public account of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation that on June 23rd, the first 10-kilometer-level vertical takeoff and landing flight test of the reusable launch vehicle in China was a complete success. The rocket was led by the Eighth Research Institute of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.

At about 1 p.m., at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, the reusable launch vehicle technology verification arrow with a diameter of 3.8 meters stood on the apron launch pad. Three variable-thrust liquid oxygen methane engines ignited, ejecting blue tail flames, and the arrow body rose to an altitude of about 12 kilometers. The central engine adjusted the thrust, and the rocket was controlled to descend. At 50 feet (about 15 meters) above the ground, the four landing legs unfolded, and then the rocket slowly descended, the height tended to zero, and it landed steadily on the recovery apron, achieving a fixed-point vertical soft landing.

This test is the largest vertical takeoff and landing flight test of a reusable launch vehicle in China so far, and it is also the first application of the domestically independently developed depth-variable thrust liquid oxygen methane engine in the ten-kilometer-level return flight.

The test lasted for about 6 minutes. The rocket experienced five stages: accelerated ascent, decelerated ascent, accelerated descent, decelerated descent, and slow descent, achieving able to take off, accurately controlled, unfolded, and landed stably.

The test comprehensively verified the 3.8-meter-diameter arrow body structure, large-load landing buffer technology, large-thrust and strong-variable thrust reusable engine technology, dual-low-temperature pressurized delivery technology, high-precision navigation guidance and control technology for return landing, and health monitoring technology, laying a technical foundation for the first flight of the 4-meter-level reusable launch vehicle as scheduled in 2025.

The liquid oxygen methane engine provides power for the rocket. The low-temperature liquid oxygen and methane propellants only produce water and carbon dioxide after complete combustion, which is not only clean and environmentally friendly but also has no problem of coking and carbon deposition, which is conducive to the reuse of the engine. At the same time, the cost of methane production is relatively low, which is in line with the commercial development direction of the rocket.

The landing buffer system is the key to the soft landing of the rocket. The buffers in the four landing legs can absorb the kinetic and potential energy of the arrow body when landing, enabling the rocket to land smoothly.

The vertex of the flight profile of this test is the stratosphere at an altitude of about 12 kilometers. In the future, the R & D team will carry out a 70-kilometer-level vertical takeoff and landing test of the reusable launch vehicle, basically covering the flight profile of the first stage of the rocket, taking a big step towards the first flight goal of the reusable launch vehicle.

Currently, countries around the world are vigorously developing reusable launch vehicles, and schemes such as parachute recovery, parachute plus air bag, and winged horizontal recovery each have their own advantages. Vertical takeoff and landing recovery is to make improvements on the original shape of the rocket, adding grid fins, return control systems, landing buffer systems, etc., so that the first stage of the rocket can be reused, further improving the rocket's launch efficiency and reducing the economic cost of human access to and from space.