GRC NEWS RELEASE 02-051



02-051
For Release: July 10, 2002



Katherine K. Martin
Media Relations Office
216/433-2406
katherine.martin@grc.nasa.gov



Lori J. Rachul
Media Relations Office
216/433-8806
lori.j.rachul@grc.nasa.gov


NASA Selects Ohio Engine Company for Development of an Accelerator 

NASA's Glenn Research Center, Cleveland has selected General Electric 
Aircraft Engines, Evendale, Ohio, for the development of a 
Revolutionary Turbine Accelerator (RTA) technology demonstrator. Work 
will begin under a five-year, cost-plus-incentive-fee Task Order 
valued at $55 million and will result in testing of a demonstrator in 
2006. This Task Order is being issued under an existing Revolutionary 
Aerospace Engine Research (RASER) contract awarded to GE in 2001.



The technology demonstrator being developed for the RTA Project is 
expected to demonstrate the feasibility of ultra high speed turbine 
engine technologies such as operability, advanced lightweight and 
high temperature materials, controls, instrumentation, thermal 
management and engine systems. It will push turbine technologies 
beyond Mach 3 to speeds well above Mach 4 (or four times the speed of 
sound). Glenn leads the RTA Project for NASA's Advanced Space 
Transportation Program managed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight 
Center, Huntsville, Ala.



The RTA could be used on the first stage of a 2-stage vehicle capable 
of sustained hypersonic flight. The second stage, which would take 
over as the speed reaches Mach 4, is a Dual Mode Scram Jet. The two 
combined propulsion systems make up the Turbine Based Combined Cycle 
(TBCC) propulsion system, which is a candidate to help NASA meet the 
agency's goal of developing safe, cost-effective access to space. If 
successful, a follow-on vehicle, using the propulsion system being 
developed under this Task Order, would be able to take off from a 
runway, instead of a launch pad, to reach space.



"The RTA developed by GE under this Task Order may become the 
propulsion system for the first stage of a new hypersonic vehicle 
capable of low-cost access to space applications," said Paul 
Bartolotta, project manager for RTA at Glenn.



Advanced technologies from NASA's Ultra Efficient Engine Technology 
(UEET) Program and the U.S. Air Force's Integrated High Performance 
Turbine Engine Technology (IHPTET) programs will be utilized in the 
RTA project.



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