Japan Conducts Tests on H3 Rocket’s LE-9 Engine to Address Instability Issues
TOKYO (JAXA PR) — We are pleased to inform you that the combustion test (blade vibration measurement test) of the LE-9 engine currently under development by JAXA as the first stage liquid fuel engine of the H3 rocket will be conducted as follows.
The LE-9 engine is considering multiple proposals in parallel as countermeasures to the problems that occurred in the past tests, and this test is to verify to narrow down the countermeasure proposals.
| Test name | LE-9 engine wing vibration measurement test |
| Test purpose | Check the vibration response of the turbopump blades to verify one of the countermeasures for the LE-9 engine problem. |
| Period | March 23, 2022 (Wednesday) -April 2022 (planned) |
| Place | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tanegashima Space Center (Kagoshima Prefecture) |
| Number of tests | 4 times (planned) |
* The period and number of tests may change depending on the weather and work progress.
Test No. 1
We are pleased to inform you of the results of the first LE-9 engine combustion test announced on March 22, 2022.
| Test date | March 23, 2022 |
| Testing location | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tanegashima Space Center (Kagoshima Prefecture) |
| Test purpose | Check the vibration response of the turbopump blades to verify one of the countermeasures for the LE-9 engine problem. |
| Ignition time | 16:07 |
| Test time | 36.3 seconds (72.2) |
| Main combustion pressure | 8.672MPa (9.36) |
| Liquid hydrogen turbopump rotation speed | 39,866 rpm (40,900) |
| Liquid oxygen turbopump rotation speed | 16,248 rpm (17,104) |
| Remarks | The vibration response of the blades of the liquid hydrogen turbopump reached a preset constraint, so it was manually stopped. In the future, we will proceed with detailed evaluation of the acquired data and preparations for the next test. |
* The value in () is the planned value.
Test No. 2
We are pleased to inform you of the results of the second LE-9 engine combustion test announced on March 22, 2022.
| Test date | March 30, 2022 |
| Testing location | Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency Tanegashima Space Center (Kagoshima Prefecture) |
| Test purpose | Check the vibration response of the turbopump blades to verify one of the countermeasures for the LE-9 engine problem. |
| Ignition time | 15:53 |
| Test time | 245.7 seconds (247.0) |
| Main combustion pressure | 9.06MPa (9.07) |
| Liquid hydrogen turbopump rotation speed | 39,844 rpm (39,938) |
| Liquid oxygen turbopump rotation speed | 16,446 rpm (16,445) |
| Remarks | Since the rotation speed of the liquid oxygen turbopump reached the preset limit, it automatically stopped as planned. In the future, we will proceed with detailed evaluation of the acquired data and inspection of specimens. |
* The value in () is the planned value.
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