Xinghe Power Aerospace has completed a full-system hot-fire test of the CQ-90 main engine for its Zhishenxing-2 large reusable launch vehicle at the Niutoushan test stand, marking a technical milestone for one of China’s rising private rocket builders. The company reported the trial as a complete success, a necessary step before integrated vehicle ground tests and eventual flight trials.
Zhishenxing-2 is a 4.5‑metre diameter, modular liquid-fuel rocket designed to fly in two configurations. The baseline version has a liftoff mass of roughly 757 tonnes, produces about 910 tonnes of thrust and is rated to deliver about 20 tonnes to low Earth orbit; the CBC (common booster/core) variant grows to some 1,950 tonnes at liftoff, produces around 2,730 tonnes of thrust and is rated for roughly 58 tonnes to LEO.
The CQ-90 is described as a 'hundred-ton-class' engine, a category that places it among the higher-thrust first-stage engines developed by China’s commercial sector in recent years. Achieving a full-system thermal test is a key validation of combustion stability, cooling, turbopump performance and control systems, and reduces technical risk ahead of more complex integrated and flight testing.
For international observers, the numbers matter: Zhishenxing-2’s baseline payload is comparable with established medium-lift rockets while the CBC variant moves it into the heavy-lift bracket. If the vehicle achieves routine, rapid reusability, it could broaden options for commercial satellite operators and state missions alike, and strengthen competition with both domestic state-run launchers and foreign commercial providers.
This milestone also reflects the maturation of China’s private space ecosystem. Over the past decade, a cluster of start-ups has demonstrated ambitious engine and launch vehicle development, helped by an expanding industrial supply chain and a regulatory environment that has become more permissive of private capital and testing infrastructure. Engine and ground-test successes like this one are tangible proof that these firms are transitioning from early-stage prototypes to systems that could be offered at scale.
Important caveats remain. Hot-fire tests validate subsystems but do not prove flightworthiness or operational reusability, which require repeated recovery and refurbishment cycles, integrated stage separation, and robust guidance and thermal protection systems. Market acceptance will depend on demonstrated reliability, competitive pricing, and the regulatory system governing range access and export controls. Nevertheless, the CQ-90 test moves Zhishenxing-2 closer to those proving grounds and signals Beijing’s increasingly complex launch market dynamics.