The Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology on Saturday released three commercial liquid rocket engines in Xi'an City of northwest China's Shaanxi Province, in an effort to promote the development of China's
commercial space industry and enhance the ability to enter space on a large scale and at a low cost.
The three engines released feature high reliability, high cost-performance ratio and re-usability. Among them, the YF-102 is the country's first open-type liquid oxygen-kerosene engine, which made its maiden flight on April 2 as the engine of China's first commercial liquid-fueled carrier rocket Tianlong-2.
"This is the YF-102 engine we have released. We can see that its construction is relatively simple, the number of components is small, a large number of mature material systems are used, and the new 3D printing technology is used. It is very suitable for the commercial aerospace field," said Liu Shang, chief designer of 85-ton thrust open-type liquid oxygen-kerosene engine under the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology.
The other two rocket engines are the YF-102V and the YF-209, which are still in the development stage.
"Because the rocket engine itself is a complex and very difficult project, it takes time to move from the stage of research and development to the stage of maturity. The transformation of aerospace products from the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology we use will provide a good support for the development of commercial rockets," said Yang Yiqiang, chairman of the CAS Space Industrial Base, China's first commercial aerospace industrial base.
