The RBCC, or Rocket-Based Combined Cycle, is one of the two types of propulsion systems that may be used in the Boeing X-43

Boeing X-43

The X-43 is an unmanned experimental hypersonic aircraft with multiple planned scale variations meant to test various aspects of hypersonic flight. It was part of NASA's Hyper-X program. It has set several airspeed records for jet-propelled aircraft....

 experimental aircraft.

It has been speculated that aerospace engineer Richard Foster originally introduced the term RBCC into the aerospace nomenclature.

A TBCC is a turbine engine with a ramming

Ramjet

A ramjet, sometimes referred to as a stovepipe jet, or an athodyd, is a form of airbreathing jet engine using the engine's forward motion to compress incoming air, without a rotary compressor. Ramjets cannot produce thrust at zero airspeed and thus cannot move an aircraft from a standstill...

 and scramming

Scramjet

A scramjet is a variant of a ramjet airbreathing jet engine in which combustion takes place in supersonic airflow...

 jet

Jet engine

A jet engine is a reaction engine that discharges a fast moving jet to generate thrust by jet propulsion and in accordance with Newton's laws of motion. This broad definition of jet engines includes turbojets, turbofans, rockets, ramjets, pulse jets...

with ignition in 2 stages that fire on Hp mach.

External links

• Performance Evaluation of the NASA GTX RBCC Flowpath - Glenn Research Center - NASA
• Parametric Study Conducted of Rocket-Based, Combined-Cycle Nozzles - Glenn Research Center - NASA
• Aerojet Successfully Tests RBCC Single Thruster, Demonstrating Tri-Fluid Rocket Injector Capabilities - SpaceRef
• Hypersonic inlet studies for a small-scale rocket-based combined-cycle engine, Journal of propulsion and power, 2007, vol. 23, no6, pp. 1160–1167, AIAA.
• Rocket-Based Combined-Cycle Engine (RBCC): Ramrocket, University of Toronto, High-Speed Vehicle Propulsion Systems Group.