 "With Zhuque-2, China blasts off world's first methane-powered rocket")
A private Chinese company has launched the world's first methane-liquid oxygen space rocket into orbit, reported China's state media.
The Zhuque-2 carrier rocket took off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Centre in northwest China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region at 9 am local time on Wednesday and "completed the flight mission according to procedure," said the report.
The launch was the second attempt by Beijing-based firm LandSpace - one of the earliest companies in China's commercial space sector -- to launch the Zhuque-2, and its success beat out US rivals in developing what may become the next generation of launch vehicles, which are considered to be less polluting, safer, cheaper, and a suitable propellant for a reusable rocket.
The Zhuque-2's first launch attempt failed in December.
China is ahead of its rival
The successful launch of LandSpace puts China ahead of rivals such as Elon Musk's SpaceX and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin in the race to develop methane-fueled space vehicles. It also comes on the same day that China announced plans to send two rockets to the moon by 2030.
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According to Chinese state media, one of the two planned rockets will carry the spacecraft that will land on the moon's surface, while the other will transport the astronauts.
Both rockets will enter lunar orbit, and after a successful docking, Chinese astronauts will board the lunar lander and descend to the moon's surface, said the state media, citing a China Manned Space Agency engineer.
The twin-rocket plan would overcome China's long-standing technological challenge of developing a heavy-duty rocket capable of transporting both astronauts and a moon lander probe into space.
After Chinese astronauts finish their scientific missions and collect samples from the moon, the lander will transport them back to the orbiting spacecraft, from which they will return to Earth, said Zhang Hailian, deputy chief engineer at China Manned Space, at a summit in the central Chinese city of Wuhan.
In 2020, China brought back samples from the moon on an unmanned mission, making China only the third nation to do so after the United States and the Soviet Union.
'Rockets that can be refuelled and reused'
LandSpace's methane-liquid oxygen rocket is considered to be less polluting, safer, and less expensive, as well as a suitable propellant for a reusable rocket.
The Chinese company also became only the second private Chinese company to launch a liquid-propeller rocket. Beijing Tianbing Technology successfully launched a kerosene-oxygen rocket in April, taking another step towards developing rockets that can be refuelled and reused.
Since the government allowed private investment in the industry in 2014, Chinese commercial space firms have rushed into the sector. LandSpace was one of the first and best-funded entrants.
(With agency input)