GUY NORRIS / LOS ANGELES
Project aimed at business jet application using technology from halted HSR programme
NASA is studying the launch of a new civil supersonic research initiative to fill the vacuum left by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's (DARPA) decision to focus the Quiet Supersonic Platform (QSP) effort on a long-range military strike aircraft.
The initiative, provisionally dubbed Quiet Ultra Efficient Supersonic Technology (QUEST), could begin in 2004 if the budget is approved and will be aimed initially at technology for a supersonic business jet (SSBJ). US industry, particularly SSBJ advocates such as Gulfstream, are continuing to push for civil applications since the reorientation of QSP towards military uses.
QUEST would eventually become a "bigger follow-on supersonic project" with possible civil transport applications, says NASA Glenn Research Center UEET (Ultra Efficient Engine Technology) integrated components technology demonstration project manager Mary Jo Long-Davis.
The study, if launched, will not replicate the defunct High Speed Research (HSR) programme which folded in 1999. NASA insiders believe HSR failed partly because it became too closely tied to Boeing's High Speed Commercial Transport project, but it still hopes to make use of the technology developed.
"UEET is stepping up to try and take on the commercial issues of noise. We are looking at nozzle technologies and funding General Electric to work on nozzle concepts that go with this cycle," says Long-Davis. The UEET is aimed at achieving a 15% reduction in CO2 emissions and a related cut in nitrous oxide at take-off of 70% relative to 1996 standards.
"We are also planning to start a propulsion integration study which will look at critical issues and enabling technologies for a 10-passenger SSBJ," adds Long-Davis. The integration study will involve NASA partnering an airframe maker and engine manufacturer. Invitations to participate have gone to GE, Pratt & Whitney, Rolls-Royce, Williams International, Honeywell, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Raytheon, with a downselection expected at the end of this month.
"Studies will be kicked off in September," Long-Davis says, adding that propulsion studies are expected to be concluded after eight months, while the airframe element will last "a month or two longer. So by the third quarter of 2003 we should have a game-plan for technology goals and payoffs."
The forthcoming integration work is not related to existing studies to be undertaken by Raytheon (through Northrop Grumman) and GE under ongoing $7.5 million Supersonic Vehicle Technology study contracts.
Source: Flight International
