NASA selects GE Aerospace to help develop more fuel efficient engines for single-aisle aircraft

WASHINGTON - The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that the agency selected GE Aerospace of Cincinnati to work with the agency's Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project, which aims to develop more fuel-efficient engines for single-aisle aircraft.

The HyTEC's Phase 2 Integrated Core Technology Demonstration is a cost-sharing contract with a maximum value of approximately $68.1 million and a five-year performance period that begins 15 Feb. 2024. The contract is awarded with a 50% minimum GE Aerospace cost share during the contract period.

Part of NASA's Advanced Air Vehicles program, HyTEC was established to accelerate the development of turbofan engine small core technologies. The first phase of the project focused on developing several key engine core technologies, including high-pressure compressors, high-pressure turbines, advanced materials, electric hybridization, and compact combustors, through subsystem or component tests. To meet the goal of HyTEC Phase 2, GE Aerospace will integrate these technologies into an engine core to perform a compact, high-power density core ground demonstration by the end of September 2028.

As part of the first phase, NASA tapped RTX's Pratt & Whitney division in Hartford, Connecticut as a collaborator to advance new combustor designs for small-core engines. An aircraft engine’s combustor, also known as the combustion chamber, is where fuel is added to compressed air and ignited, creating the high-temperature gas that powers the engine.

“In order to meet the Aviation Climate Action Plan’s carbon emissions goals, future single-aisle aircraft engines will have to be able to burn sustainable aviation fuels,” said Tony Nerone, HyTEC project manager at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “HyTEC’s role is to develop these small core engine combustors that are more efficient, more durable, and able to use sustainable aviation fuel without compromising the engine performance and while providing significant emissions benefits.”