Vol. 53 No. 4 (2016)   New Products & Technologies
Technical Papers

Combustion Stability Improvement of LE-9 Engine for Booster Stage of H3 Launch Vehicle

DAIKI WATANABE
HIROYASU MANAKO
ONGA TADAOKI
TAKASHI TAMURA
KAZUFUMI IKEDA
MITSUNORI ISONO

The Space System Division of Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) is currently developing a new flagship launch vehicle (H3) in cooperation with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). As a test for the development of the LE-9 first stage engine for the H3 launch vehicle, a full-scale combustion system test was implemented. Through improvement in the injector and resonator by establishing and applying a proprietary combustion stability evaluation tool, significant improvement in combustion stability was attained. Currently an actual engine is being designed and fabricated based on the test results, and a combustion test of the total engine systems is planned to be implemented in 2017.