Exciting news from China! 🇨🇳 The enhanced Zhuque-2E rocket, developed by the Chinese private space company LandSpace, has successfully completed its maiden flight! It soared into the sky from the Gobi Desert, carrying two test satellites into orbit. 🌌
What’s special about this rocket? The Zhuque-2E Y1 (the ‘E’ stands for ‘Enhanced’, and ‘Y1’ means it’s the first of its kind) is powered by methane! Methane is a cleaner fuel compared to traditional rocket fuels, making the rocket more environmentally friendly. 🌱
Amazing features:
- It’s slightly shorter and lighter than previous versions, now measuring 47.3 meters tall—that’s like stacking about 10 giraffes! 🦒
- It has more power! The liftoff thrust increased from 268 tonnes to 282 tonnes. Imagine the force of over 40 elephants pushing upward! 🐘
- It can carry up to 4 tonnes (that’s 4,000 kilograms) into a special orbit 500 kilometers above Earth called a sun-synchronous orbit. 🛰️
- Fueling time has been reduced to less than 1.5 hours, so it can get ready for launch faster! ⏱️
A bit of history: LandSpace has launched two other Zhuque-2 rockets before:
- Y1 (December 2022) — didn’t quite make it to orbit.
- Y2 (July 2023) — became the world’s first methane-powered rocket to reach orbit! 🎉
Now, with the successful flight of the enhanced Zhuque-2E Y1, LandSpace is ready to start commercial operations. This means they can help launch satellites for companies and organizations around the world! 🌍
Why is this important? Successful launches like this help bring more technology to space, like satellites that improve internet connections, weather forecasts, and help us learn more about our planet! Plus, using cleaner fuel like methane is better for our environment. 🌐
The future of space exploration is bright, and maybe one day you’ll be part of it! ✨
Reference(s):
China's modified Zhuque-2 methalox rocket completes maiden flight
cgtn.com
