Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, DC             July 11, 1996
(Phone:  202/358-1779)
June Malone
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL
(Phone:  205/544-0034)
RELEASE:  96-135
NASA SELECTS FIVE ORGANIZATIONS TO DEVELOP 
TECHNOLOGIES FOR AN AIR-BREATHING ROCKET ENGINE
    NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL, has 
selected five teams to develop technologies for air-breathing 
rocket engines.  This is the next step toward developing new 
rocket propulsion technologies that could take NASA into the 
next century.
    The selected organizations are Gen Corp Aerojet, 
Sacramento, CA; Kaiser Marquardt, Van Nuys, CA; Pennsylvania 
State University, State College, PA; Rockwell 
Aerospace/Rocketdyne, Canoga Park, CA; and United 
Technologies/Pratt and Whitney, West Palm Beach, FL.
    Called a rocket-based combined cycle propulsion system, 
this new propulsion system would use an engine that consumes 
atmospheric oxygen and then use a stored oxidizer when beyond 
the Earth's atmosphere.
    NASA's current Space Shuttle propulsion system uses an 
engine that consumes stored oxidizer exclusively.  By reducing 
the amount of stored oxidizer and improving the engine 
performance, the weight and cost of the system could be 
significantly reduced.  
    "These awards will enable NASA to pursue multiple options 
for combined cycle air breathing propulsion technologies," 
according to Uwe Hueter, manager for the rocket-based combined 
cycle program at Marshall.
    Hueter also said, "Im looking forward to beginning the 
ground testing of the critical technologies and obtaining the 
needed data to evaluate the various engine concepts.  This will 
be the first step toward one of our major program milestones--a 
proof of concept flight demonstration by the year 2000."
    This activity is part of NASA's Advanced Space 
Transportation program, which is managed by Marshall.  These 
awards focus on technological advances in propulsion for the 
future not addressed by the Reusable Launch Vehicle program and 
that have the potential to dramatically reduce the cost of 
access to space.
    The next step is for the five organizations and NASA to 
negotiate contracts.  That process is expected to be complete 
within 60 days.  Performance of work should be completed within 
24 months, after finalizing the details of each company's 
contract with NASA. 
    The current effort is envisioned to be the first of three 
phases leading to flight demonstrations of the technology for 
primary launch vehicle propulsion.  This first phase will 
provide initial verification of proposed concepts through 
ground demonstration of combined rocket and air breathing space 
propulsion technologies.  This phase also provides preliminary 
designs for flight.  Using the most promising concepts 
identified in ground tests, the second phase will provide 
flight experiments to demonstrate critical propulsion 
technologies in the flight environment by the year 2000.  In 
the third phase, NASA anticipates the first flight of a small-
scale integrated vehicle and propulsion system, planned for 
2002; a large-scale integrated vehicle and propulsion system 
flight is planned for 2005.
    NASA anticipates the total value of the awards for the 
first phase of this program to be approximately $20 million.
                            -end-
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