The Aerospace Daily and Defense Report (10/22, Norris) reported NASA “has selected a Williams International high-speed turbojet as the turbine element of its Turbine Based Combined Cycle (TBCC) engine test rig, which will be used to evaluate technologies for potential future two-stage to orbit launcher concepts.”
The rig is being built at the Glenn Research Center for testing in its supersonic wind tunnel. “The TBCC is designed to integrate a turbine and ramjet/scramjet into a unified propulsion system that could be used to power the first-stage of a two-stage launch vehicle from a standing start on a runway to speeds in excess of Mach 7.” Testing of the rig “will be divided into four main phases, beginning with inlet performance work in 2010, followed by unsteady inlet system work.”
