The People's Daily (January 25) reported that a new aerospace ramjet engine developed by China's Tsinghua
University had successfully conducted a test flight on January 24, demonstrating the country's independent
research and development capability and a ground-breaking achievement in the field of new airpower. The
Space Daily (January 26) stated that CCTV disclosed the engine was developed by the Laboratory of Spray
Combustion and Propulsion under School of Aerospace Engineering at Tsinghua University. It said a twostage rocket booster was used to assist the test flight. Huang Zhicheng, a senior expert on aerospace science
and technology, told the Global Times on January 24 that the experiment is about the engine's hypersonic
flight. Experts were quoted saying it is likely a scramjet engine, which is one of the key technologies to
achieve hypersonic flight. Wang Ya'nan, Chief Editor of Beijing-based Aerospace Knowledge magazine,
told the Global Times that since the engine needed a two-stage rocket booster, it probably worked near space
or in the upper edge of the atmosphere where air is very thin, with insufficient oxygen to support combustion.
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