China launches world’s first methane-fuelled space rocket

China launches world’s first methane-fuelled space rocket: A private Chinese company has launched the world’s first methane-liquid oxygen space rocket into orbit.

The Zhuque-2 carrier rocket blasted off at 9am local time (01:00 GMT) on Wednesday from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China’s Inner Mongolia autonomous region, and “completed the flight mission according to the procedure”, state media reported.

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The rocket successfully delivered a test payload into sun-synchronous orbit (SSO), the first in the world to make such an achievement.

Methane-powered engines, with their high performance and low operational costs, are particularly suited for the developing trend of reusable rockets.