Progress Report on Preliminary Design of the LE-X Components

JAXA is planning to develop the next booster engine called LE-X with higher reliability and at significantly reduced cost. The LE-X is under study for the future expendable launcher (post H-2A) with enhanced reliability and at reduced cost. We aimed to achieve significant cost reduction by drastic simplification of the components and innovation of the manufacturing process. In 2007, we had optimized the engine baseline configuration. We examined components designs which have potentially achieved cost-cutting targets. This paper reports the progress of the component design. The key design of each component described. At the present, it appears that preliminary design of the LE-X components is successfully conducted. Feasibility of the components designs and the manufacturing process was confirmed.