On May 27, the "JD-1" reusable liquid oxygen methane engine, made by Chinese private space launch company i-Space, also known as Space Honor, completed the second start long-range 500-second test.
This marks JD-1 as China's first liquid oxygen methane engine with secondary launch capability, and also means that i-Space has broken through another core technology of vertical launch vehicle recovery, laying a solid foundation for the successful launch of the Double Curve II reusable launch vehicle into orbit.
The i-Space power system engineer told reporters that the technology of vertical landing to achieve carrier rocket sub-stage recovery places high technical requirements on the rocket's power system, and one of the core technologies is the secondary start of the engine.
Secondary start technology can be applied not only to the vertical recovery process of the rocket, but also to the re-entry deceleration through secondary ignition, reducing the speed of the rocket during the first stage landing.
This can also be applied to the launch into orbit process to increase the launch capacity of the rocket - after a period of time after the first ignition boost of the rocket, the shutdown allows the rocket to glide to the appropriate position for ignition boosting again, increasing the launch capacity while saving fuel.
The "JD-1" engine second-start test car has comprehensively tested the engine's second-start capability and verified the correctness of the second-start timing.
"JD-1" is a 15-ton reusable liquid oxygen methane engine developed by i-Space itself. It uses clean, environmentally friendly, inexpensive, non-coking liquid oxygen methane fuel and the engine is designed to be reused up to 30 times.
This could save the rocket more than 70% of its manufacturing costs and significantly reduce the cost of space exploration.
Previously, the "JD-1" engine has successfully completed the cumulative thousands of seconds long range test.
Subsequently, the engine will continue to carry out ground tests such as variable thrust test, sway test and engine vibration modal test, and pass the 100-km vertical take-off and landing test of the double-curve II sub-stage of the reusable launch vehicle developed by i-Space itself to fully master the reusable launch vehicle technology.
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