Beijing has just introduced a fire-extinguishing rocket system that will handle blazes in the city's densest skyscraper cluster.
The system looks like a multiple rocket launcher. It can fire rockets that are filled with a fire-extinguishing agent to hit targets up to 80 floors up, equivalent to 300 meters.
According to the China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp., the country's largest missile maker and system's developer, the rocket is capable of penetrating through 19-millimeter-thick glass when launched from hundreds of meters away.
The rocket uses technologies from China's space missiles and launch vehicles. Each rocket is capable of putting out a fire quickly in a 60-cubic-meter room.
Infrared and laser sensors on the launch vehicle will detect and calculate the location as well as the height of an actual fire. The ballistic computer will then produce a launch angle and trajectory for the target of the rocket.
After the rocket enters a room that is on fire, it will release 3.6 kilograms of fire-extinguishing powder for suppressing the blaze. A launch vehicle carrying the system is capable of firing 24 rockets in just 72 seconds.
One of the launch vehicles equipped with this technology was delivered to the Hujialou Fire Squadron in Chaoyang District last January. The squadron is responsible for the Central Business District, which has seven out of the top 10 highest buildings in Beijing. These include the China World Trade Center III, the tallest completed building in the city reaching 330 meters.
Wang Heng, the marketing manager of the system at China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp., stated that each unit of the system costs about 8.5 million yuan.
"Two vehicles will soon be delivered to other users while a total of ten vehicles have been ordered by new buyers, without giving the names of the new users and buyer," he added
Qiu Xuyang, the chief designer of the system, said: "It has a high level of accuracy and safety. In case the missile accidentally deviates from the predetermined course, the control system will guide it to fall to the ground."