NASA, GE Working on Open-Rotor Technology Agreement

Posted on May 21, 2008
Filed Under Aerospace Industry, Aviation Interest |

Flight International (5/16, Trimble) reported, “NASA and General Electric are negotiating a new partnership agreement to start scaled model tests of open-rotor counter-rotating fan systems later this year for a next-generation jet engine design for the narrowbody sector.” The tests would be conducted at the Glenn Research Center’s wind tunnels, “and NASA would also supply testing rig equipment originally used in the 1980s for fan systems that led to the GE36 jet engine program.” According to Flight International, “many questions remain about the technical viability of the open-rotor concept. GE must prove that the engine can satisfy a number of technical and regulatory barriers…and it is working to prove the validity of the counter-rotating fan for the open rotor design.”