On the afternoon of May 14th, the "Yixian-3", a plane-symmetric reusable rocket, developed by a team led by Professor Wu Zhigang from the School of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Sun Yat-sen University, successfully completed a low-altitude flight testin Yangjiang City, Guangdong Province. After reaching its designated altitude, the rocket completed hovering and maneuver adjustmentsbefore making a stable vertical landing in the target area, marking a complete success of the test. It marked the first plane-symmetric reusable liquid rocket developed under the leadership ofa Chinese university.

The "Yixian-3" rocket has a liftoff massof about 1 tonne, stands 4.5 meters tall and measures 0.6 meters in diameter. Adopting a plane-symmetric shape, the rocket delivers better lift force and attitude stability within the atmosphere compared with traditional axisymmetric rockets, making it particularly suitable for vertical takeoff, landing and recovery.

According to the team, vertical takeoff and landing technology requires extremely high control precision. During high-speed descent, the rocket needs multiple ignitions and reverse thrust deceleration, achieving nearly zero velocityand zero deviation upon touchdown. It involves the integrated application of multidisciplinary technologies including aerodynamics, guidance systems, and thrust control, where any tiny error may lead to mission failure. In the Yixian-3 test, the rocket successfully completed key maneuvers such as attitude stabilization, hover control, deceleration control and precision landing during low-altitude flight. The results demonstrated the team's capabilities in overall rocket design and verified the engineering feasibility of its design.

Source:PEARL

中大团队攻克火箭垂直起降 实现低空飞行

5月14日下午，由中山大学航空航天学院吴志刚教授团队研制的“逸仙-3号”面对称可重复使用火箭，在广东省阳江市成功完成了低空飞行试验。火箭在发射至预定高度后，完成悬停、机动调整，平稳垂直降落至目标区域，试验取得圆满成功。这是国内首枚高校主导研制的面对称可回收液体火箭。

“逸仙-3号”火箭起飞质量约1吨，高度4.5米，直径0.6米。火箭外形呈面对称，相比传统的轴对称火箭，这种设计能在大气层内提供更好的升力和姿态稳定性，尤其适合垂直起降回收。

据介绍，垂直起降对控制精度要求极高，火箭要在高速下落中多次点火、反推减速，在触地时达到近乎零速度和零偏差，涉及气动、制导、推力调节控制等多学科技术的综合运用，任何一个微小失误都可能导致失败。在“逸仙-3号”试验中，火箭在低空飞行过程中成功完成了姿态稳定、悬停控制、减速调整及精准着陆等关键动作，证明了团队在火箭总体设计方面的能力和设计方案的工程可行性。

文、图、视频｜记者 王倩 通讯员 李建平
视频剪辑｜温泽广
译 | 郑书悦
英文审校 | 曾敏