The SQX-2Y reusable experimental space vehicle from the Chinese company i-Space successfully completed a vertical takeoff and landing test this Friday, local media reported.
The 17-meter-long spacecraft, which is intended for commercial use, was designed to test technologies applicable to the development of transport rockets that can be used more than once, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
The test launch took place at 2:00 p.m. (6:00 a.m., in Lisbon), from the Jiuquan launch center, in the Inner Mongolia region. The vehicle reached a height of 178.42 meters and landed 50 seconds later at a speed of 0.025 meters per second.
According to the company, the accuracy achieved on the landing target was 1.68 meters.
The vehicle is powered by a methane and liquid oxygen propulsion engine, a technology used for the first time in China last July and previously only developed by the North American companies SpaceX and Blue Origin.
According to i-Space, the information collected in the test provided technical support for the development of medium and large-sized reusable rockets that use this type of propulsion.
Last May, a reusable experimental spacecraft returned to China after 276 days in orbit, which was considered a milestone in the development of this type of technology.
Over the past decade, Beijing has invested heavily in its space program and achieved important milestones, such as the successful landing of a probe on the far side of the Moon in January 2019, a feat no country has achieved to date.
Source: TSF
