On April 15 in Xi’an, Shaanxi, the long-range high load condition trial run of the first core stage high pressure staged combustion liquid oxygen and kerosene engine of Long March 6A launch vehicle succeeded, marking that China has made progress in the development of the new generation of hybrid propellant rockets.

The 120-ton high pressure staged combustion liquid oxygen and kerosene engine was developed by the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology. On September 20, 2015, June 25, 2016 and November 3, 2016, it powered Long March 6, Long March 7 and Long March 5 respectively on their maiden flights. This makes China the second country in the worldhaving fully grasped this core technology. Thecapacity in access to outer spaceof launch vehicles has been markedly enhanced. The engine won the first award in National Prize for Progress in Science and Technology in 2018.

▲ Long March 6A Launch Vehicle (Sketch)

Long March 6A is the launch vehicle with modularized, integral and serialization design developed by Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation on the basis of the successful maiden flight of the new generation of Long March 6 launch vehicles using existing technologies. The 120-ton liquid oxygen and kerosene engine, which is specially developed for the first core stage of the launch vehicle, is developed based on the current twin dual-axis enginesaccording to the overall requirements for a launch vehicle. Improvements are made to its pressurization modeand final assembly. Adaptability improvement research is also carried out according to its high inlet pressure, long-time running and new flight environment and conditions. Compared with other launch vehicles, the engine of the first core stage will also have the preflight fault diagnosis function, which can make the launch more reliable.

Taking advantage of thesteady thrust force and high specific thrust of liquid power, Long March 6A launch vehicle adopts the two and a half stagestructure, with a liquid coreintegrated with four solid boosters. It can perform the launching task of various orbits, including the sun-synchronous orbit, low-altitude orbit, and intermediate circle orbit. It supports single satellite launch, multiple satellite launch, constellation networking and supplementary launch.

Source: Official WeChat of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, official WeChat of Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology, WeChat of the People’s Daily