START Lab expansion aims to make aviation greener | Penn State University

A $26 million commitment from Pratt & Whitney, the Federal Aviation Administration’s ASCENT Program, the U.S. Department of Energy-National Technology Lab and Penn State will expand the START Lab. The expansion will allow Prof. Karen Thole and her collaborators to evaluate smaller turbines relevant to hybrid electric propulsion. Thole leads a NASA funded University Leadership Initiative partnering with Howard University, Georgia Tech, Pratt & Whitney and Collins Aerospace to study hybrid electric propulsion…