Published on: 2026-08-21
Source: People’s Republic of China — Translation
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Beijing, August 21 /Xinhua/ — China’s commercial reusable launch vehicle sector continues its steady development: on Friday, one of the companies in this industry announced the successful completion of long-duration firing tests of the engine for a large reusable launch vehicle.
As reported by a Xinhua correspondent on Friday at Deep Blue Aerospace, a commercial space startup from Wuxi city, Jiangsu Province, Eastern China, it recently successfully conducted 100-second static fire tests of its Thunder-RS engine. This liquid-propellant engine with a thrust class of 130 tons runs on a fuel pair of “liquid oxygen — kerosene” and is designed for the large reusable launch vehicle Nebula-2 produced by the company.
During the test, a thrust of 1297.5 kilonewtons was achieved, which is about 132.3 tons. The company reported that several short-duration fire tests had been previously conducted to assess the engine’s characteristics, with no deviations recorded.
According to the company, the recent 100-second launch was the first time this engine exceeded the threshold of continuous operation duration in stationary mode and served as a comprehensive test of its characteristics.
The reusable use of rockets allows for a significant reduction in launch costs and an increase in their frequency, which is a necessary condition for the future mass and free access to outer space.
On the morning of August 19, China launched the reusable rocket “Zhuque-3,” during which the first stage of the rocket was landed on land for the first time, marking the country’s first successful ground landing of this kind in history. This mission followed the successful sea recovery of the first stage of the “Long March-10B” rocket using a net capture system, which took place on July 10.
This year, several types of reusable rockets will undergo flight tests in China.
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