BEIJING, March 27 (China Space News) — The second ground test of the power system of China’s next-generation carrier rocket was completed Monday, ahead of its first flight in 2016.
Using non-toxic, non-polluting liquid propellant, the engines of Long March-5 were test-fired on the ground to test current technology, according to China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation.
Long March-5 was first test-fired on Feb. 9 this year. The Long March-5 rockets, designed for the final chapter of China’s three-step — orbiting, landing and returning — lunar program, will have a payload capacity of 25 tonnes to low Earth orbits, or 14 tonnes to geostationary transfer orbit.
The Chang’e-5 lunar mission is undergoing intensive development and is scheduled to be launched with a Long March-5 carrier rocket from south China’s Hainan Province around 2017.
