The test of this engine, which will power the rocket’s second stage, lasted 20 seconds. After being slated for flight in 2020, the Zhuque-2 rocket has experienced many delays, and the corporation is presently completing testing for the rocket. The TQ-15A is a rocket engine from the same generation as the TQ-12, which will power the Zhuque-2’s first stage (ZQ-2). The newest version of the TQ-12 engine family, the TQ-12A, has reportedly passed 6,900 seconds of fire testing as of late August. These engines also employ liquid oxygen and methane as its oxidizer and fuel.
With a total thrust of 836 kiloNewtons, it is China’s most excellent second-stage rocket engine, and an improvement over the 11 series engines initially intended to power the ZQ-2 rocket. LandSpace has made numerous improvements to the second-stage engine since it first began developing the missile. The TQ-15A boosts specific impulses, increases throttling potential to range between 55% and 110%, and eliminates the vernier motors initially integrated within it for reliability. The business also intends to reuse its rocket. However, how far the parts can be recovered after launch is unknown. It had constructed 37 TQ-12 engines by the end of August, and during the creation of the lineup, it had tested the engines for more than 20,000 seconds. Optimistic projections place the ZQ-2’s launch around 2022; if this is the case, the rocket will be the first made in China to use methane engines. The TQ-15A was tested without a nozzle, and now, according to LandScape, it will be put through its paces to see how well it performs over a long distance, how dependable it is, how quickly it can scale up or down its thrust, how well it cools, how many times it can start up, and how much pressure is coming in and going out. This test firing is the first of five tests that will take 970 seconds each and involve numerous startup operations in a single test run.
