Aerospace on IT News

Galactic Energy's Reusable Rocket Engine Passes 163rd Test — Maiden Flight Is Next

Mon, 06 Jul 2026 00:00:00 +0800

There’s a difference between testing an engine on the ground and putting it in the sky. Galactic Energy, one of China’s leading private aerospace firms, is about to find out how big that gap really is.

The company’s Cangqiong-50 — a reusable liquid-oxygen/kerosene engine — completed its 163rd hot fire test on July 1 at the Niutoushan Propulsion System Test Center. The engine ran normally, which at this point is routine. What’s less routine: Galactic Energy has now fired 57 production-grade Cangqiong-50 units for a combined 20,088 seconds on the test stand. The longest single engine run hit 2,757 seconds.

Rocket Lab to acquire Iridium for $8 billion in landmark space industry deal

Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0800

Rocket Lab is buying Iridium for $8 billion in a cash-and-stock deal that would merge one of the most active satellite launchers with one of the oldest satellite communications networks in orbit. The acquisition, announced Monday, is expected to close by mid-2027.

New Tantalum Alloy Doubles Strength at 2000°C — Published in Nature

Sat, 27 Jun 2026 00:00:00 +0800

There aren’t many metals that can hold their shape at 2000°C. Most — including the nickel-based superalloys that power jet engines — melt well below that. Only a handful of refractory metals like tungsten, molybdenum, and tantalum even stand a chance. And until now, none of them did it well enough to matter for the most demanding aerospace applications.

Researchers at Xi’an Jiaotong University’s State Key Laboratory for Mechanical Behavior of Metallic Materials just changed that. They’ve developed a new boron-oxide dispersion strengthened (B-ODS) tantalum alloy that doubles the tensile yield strength at 2000°C compared to conventional tantalum alloys. The work was published in Nature on Friday.