Space transportation propulsion R&D center has conducted the wide scope of research and development activities from trouble shooting of the operating rocket engine to advanced research on air breathing engine for future space transportation systems since its establishment. In this paper, research and development progress in space transportation propulsion R&D center will be presented. The main activities in liquid rocket engine field is the development of LE-X, which is going to be the main engine of the first stage of the evolved H-2A/B launch vehicle, namely, H-X. The current status of this engine is to demonstrate the technology before full scale development. LE-X is characterized by high-thrust expander bleed cycle engine, high-fidelity simulations and analyses for reliability and risk-based design process, and the related technology level should be raised to TRL 5 to mitigate development risk.
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