NASA, GE Aerospace Advancing Hybrid-Electric Airliners with HyTEC | Space

Hybrid-electric cars have been a staple of the road for many years now.

Soon that same idea of a part-electric-, part-gas-powered engine may find its way into the skies propelling a future jet airliner.

NASA is working in tandem with industry partner GE Aerospace on designing and building just such an engine, one that burns much less fuel by including new components to help electrically power the engine.

In this hybrid jet engine, a fuel-burning core powers the engine and is assisted by electric motors. The motors produce electric power, which is fed back into the engine itself—therefore reducing how much fuel is needed to power the engine in the first place.

The work is happening as part of NASA’s Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project. This work intends to demonstrate this engine concept by the end of 2028 to enable its use on airliners as soon as the 2030s.

It represents a major step forward in jet engine technology.

This jet engine would be the first ever mild hybrid-electric jet engine. A “mild hybrid” engine can be powered partially by electrical machines operating both as motors and generators.

“This will be the first mild hybrid-electric engine and could lead to the first production engine for narrow-body airliners that’s hybrid electric,” said Anthony Nerone, who leads the HyTEC project…