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HELSINKI — China carried out a successful pad abort test early Tuesday for its next-generation crew spacecraft for moon and low Earth orbit missions.
China conducted the zero-altitude, or pad abort, test June 17 at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. An ignition command was issued at 12:30 a.m. Eastern (0430 UTC; 12:30 p.m. Beijing time), triggering the Mengzhou spacecraft’s launch escape system solid propellant engines, China’s human spaceflight agency, CMSEO, said in a statement.
Footage of the test shows the escape system rapidly boosting the spacecraft away from the ground. Around 20 seconds later, the vehicle reached a predetermined altitude. The return capsule separated from the escape tower and its parachutes deployed successfully.
The return capsule safely landed in the designated test zone using an airbag cushioning system at 12:32 a.m., marking the test a complete success, CMSEO stated.
The test was designed to verify systems needed to get astronauts in the crew module away from its rocket in an emergency situation. The test marks a milestone for the country’s plans to put astronauts on the moon by 2030.
China is planning to conduct an in-flight escape test at maximum dynamic pressure later in the year. CMSEO has not stated when the latter test will take place. It is also unknown if the test will be conducted at Jiuquan or the coastal Wenchang spaceport.
It is possible China could use a Long March 5B or a purpose-built test rocket to simulate splashdown and recovery from Wenchang, from which future crewed lunar missions will launch.
This is China’s first such test since the Shenzhou spacecraft’s pad abort test in 1998, according to CMSEO.
According to the agency, Mengzhou shifts from the traditional model of “rocket handles abort, spacecraft handles crew rescue,” as used by the Shenzhou, to a system where the Mengzhou spacecraft takes full responsibility for both abort control and crew safety.
NASA conducted a pad abort test for the Orion crew vehicle at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in 2010.
Mengzhou: China’s new crew vehicle
The two-module Mengzhou (“dream vessel”) has a modular design and will come in two variants: one for low Earth orbit (LEO) and one for crewed lunar missions. The partially reusable LEO version could carry as many as seven astronauts to the Tiangong space station, or fewer astronauts and up to 500 kilograms of cargo. The moon variant, with a mass of up to 26,000 kilograms, will carry three astronauts to lunar orbit and dock there with a separately launched landing stack.
In 2020, China launched a boilerplate version of Mengzhou, then named simply “next-generation crew spacecraft,” on a test flight of the Long March 5B rocket, testing a high-speed reentry.
CMSEO says the Mengzhou spacecraft will become the core crew vehicle for space station operations and lunar exploration missions.
“The success of this test lays an important technical foundation for future crewed lunar missions,” the CMSEO statement read. “Development work on related spacecraft, such as the Long March 10 launch vehicle and the lunar lander, is progressing steadily and will proceed to further testing as scheduled.”
The Long March 10 uses three, 5.0-meter-diameter core stages powered by YF-100K kerosene-liquid oxygen engines, building on the development of the Long March 5. Its launch facilities are currently being constructed at Wenchang on Hainan island.
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