BEIJING - China announced Thursday that it has developed a new engine for its new generation of carrier rockets, making it the second in the world to harness such engine technologies.

The 120-ton liquid oxygen/kerosene high-pressure staged combustion cycle engine will provide an effective guarantee for the country's manned space and lunar probe missions, said the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence.

The engine is non-toxic and pollution-free, and features high performance and reliability.

It is the first kind of high-pressure staged combustion cycle engine for which China has proprietary intellectual property rights, said the administration.

It also makes China the second country in the world, after Russia, to grasp the core technologies for a liquid oxygen/kerosene high-pressure staged combustion cycle rocket engine.

The research project for the engine was initiated in September 2000.

It was coordinated and organized by the State Administration of Science, Technology and Industry for National Defence, and conducted by the Academy of Aerospace Propulsion Technology of China Aerospace Science & Technology Corporation.

Researchers made more than 70 technical breakthroughs in designing, manufacturing and testing, and obtained nearly 20 national defense scientific and technical achievements along with patent licenses. They also worked on nearly 50 kinds of new material.