China’s Feitian 2 hypersonic vehicle shows critical capabilities in test flight

A Chinese university has successfully flown its Feitian 2 hypersonic vehicle at a site in northwestern China, according to an announcement on the Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) website on Monday.

The research team said the test represented the first successful acquisition of real-flight data for a rocket-based combined cycle (RBCC) engine using a kerosene-hydrogen peroxide propellant. The university’s statement said the test flight proved key capabilities, including variable-geometry intake operation, thrust-varying acceleration and autonomous flight with variable angle of attack.

NPU led the project with participation from the Shaanxi Province Aerospace and Astronautics Propulsion Research Institute. It follows a flight test of the Feitian 1 prototype in July 2022 that showed the engine’s ability to achieve stable transitions at different speeds.

Notably, NPU is subject to US sanctions and requires specific US Commerce Department approval to buy sensitive US-made research equipment and components. Undergraduate students from NPU also face significant hurdles in obtaining US study visas.

In September 2022, Chinese authorities publicly accused the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) Tailored Access Operations (TAO) unit of carrying out extensive cyberattacks against the university.

Hypersonic vehicles sometimes operate outside the atmosphere or in extremely thin air, preventing them from using atmospheric oxygen such as in air-breathing engines. Consequently, they must carry both oxidiser and fuel on board.

Traditional hypersonic propellants include liquid oxygen with kerosene, or liquid hydrogen with liquid oxygen. The US X-51A scramjet employed hydrocarbon fuel for its lower cooling demands and Feitian 1 showed that kerosene could effectively be used as fuel for the propulsion system.

Feitian 2 advances this by using a kerosene and hydrogen peroxide propellant.

  

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