HELSINKI — China has conducted the first static fire of a seven-engine first-stage test article for the rocket that will carry its astronauts to the moon.
A shortened first stage test article fixed with seven YF-100K variable thrust kerosene-liquid oxygen engines ignited at 3:00 a.m. Eastern (0700 UTC) Aug. 15 at the new, purpose-built LC-301 launch pad at Wenchang spaceport, Hainan island, the China Manned Space Engineering Office (CMSEO) announced.
Amateur footage indicated that the tethered static fire was around 30 seconds in duration. CMSEO stated it was the first test firing, suggesting further tests may follow.
“The test executed multiple procedures, verifying the ability of the seven parallel-mounted first-stage engines to operate simultaneously under both nominal and high-power conditions. Complete test data was collected, and the test was a complete success,” CMSEO noted in a statement.
The test was the largest full-system ground static firing test conducted in China, with a thrust approaching 1,000 metric tons, it added. The YF-100K is an uprated version of the YF-100 engine used on Long March 5, 6, 7 and 8 rockets. It has been flight tested on the new Long March 12 rocket which has flown two times, both successfully.
The successful test is a key step in the development of the 92.5-meter-tall Long March 10 rocket, a three-core, three-stage launcher designed for China’s crewed lunar landing program. Two Long March 10 rockets will launch separately in short succession to send a crewed spacecraft and a lunar landing stack to the moon, a mission China aims to execute before 2030.
The mission will see Mengzhou and the Lanyue lunar lander dock in lunar orbit. Two astronauts will then descend to the moon aboard Lanyue for a short duration stay on the lunar surface.
The static fire follows a number of key hardware milestones for the program, including landing and takeoff tests of the crewed Lanyue lunar lander Aug. 6 at a landing simulation test site in Hebei province, apparent structural tests for the Long March 10 moon rocket in July, and a pad abort test for the Mengzhou crew spacecraft at Jiuquan spaceport June 17.
The test is also a step forward for the 67-meter-long, two-stage Long March 10A, a single-stick variant which will be reusable and launch a low Earth orbit version of Mengzhou to the Tiangong space station, as well as Tianzhou cargo craft. A first flight could come as soon as 2026, ahead of a debut flight of the full Long March 10.
China currently relies on the expendable, hypergolic Long March 2F rocket and Shenzhou spacecraft for human spaceflight. The Long March 10 series and the partially reusable Mengzhou will modernize the country’s capabilities in this area, and also allow for greater numbers of astronauts to fly to Tiangong.
Friday’s static fire was also a test for a mobile launch platform, flame trench and other systems at LC-301, which will facilitate Long March 10 launches and the crewed lunar exploration missions.
Construction of the launch infrastructure is progressing smoothly, and other supporting facility projects at the site are also advancing in a solid and orderly manner, according to CMSEO.