China's Crewed Lunar Missions Rocket: Reusable Engines, Intelligent Flight System

China's Crewed Lunar Missions Rocket: Reusable Engines, Intelligent Flight System

The Long March-10 series of rockets for China's crewed lunar mission is a reusable launch vehicle with intelligent technologies to cope with possible system failures during the flight. As new-generation carrier rockets specially developed for the crewed lunar exploration, the Long March-10 series has two versions: the lunar version is meant for Moon landing and the near-Earth version is mainly to carry out space station missions.

To reduce the operating costs of the China Space Station, the first-stage rocket of the near-Earth version has been designed with reusable technology. Its main engine has completed over 10 tests for reusable verification.

"The re-usability scheme of the near-Earth rocket's first stage has already passed scaled-down verification tests on land and at sea. We hope to enter the phase of engineering verification at an early date. We have come up with some innovative methods, which should be able to provide a reference for developing other models in the future, and later we can may develop some near-Earth version of rockets for commercial use," said Xu Hongping, an engineer with China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC).

To better ensure the safety of astronauts, the Long March-10 series also features a "smart brain" and other intelligent technologies to enable the rocket to detect and troubleshoot problems autonomously during flight to support mission success.

"During the research and development, we took into consideration all possible failure modes that we can imagine. When a failure occurs, we can continue finishing our established tasks through mission re-planning and reconstruction of the entire system," said Xu.

The Long March-10 is a strategic support for China to land astronauts on the Moon before 2030, and it is expected to prepare for its maiden flight in 2027, according to CASC.

The Long March-10, measuring 92.5 meters (303.5 feet) tall, is a three-stage super-heavy rocket that burns kerosene and liquid oxygen.

Its first stage is five meters wide and powered by seven YF-100K engines. Along with two boosters, each also consisting of seven YF-100K engines, the rocket can generate a thrust of 2,678 tonnes at lift-off.

It is capable of delivering at least 27 tonnes to an Earth-moon transfer orbit—around three times the capacity of Long March-5, China’s most powerful rocket to date.

Video Credit: CCTV Video News Agency

Duration: 1 minute, 35 seconds

Release Date: June 16, 2024

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