GE Aviation and NASA are teaming on a wind-tunnel test program to evaluate counterrotating fan-blade systems for "open rotor" jet engine designs that could sharply reduce fuel consumption. The testing will begin in wind tunnel facilities at NASA's Glenn Research Center in early 2009 and continue into mid-year. This is not a full engine test, but a component rig test to evaluate subscale fan systems using GE's and NASA's advanced computational tools and data acquisition systems. Rising fuel prices have led GE and NASA to re-visit open-rotor engine systems.  For the NASA tests, GE will run two rows of counterrotating fan blades at 1/5 subscale in several configurations, tested in simulated flight conditions created in Glenn Research Center's 9-by-15-foot low speed and 8-by-6-foot high speed wind tunnels. GE and the Fundamental Aeronautics Program of NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate in Washington are jointly funding the program. Snecma (SAFRAN Group) of France will participate with fan blade designs. Open-rotor jet engine designs are among the longer-term technologies being evaluated for LEAP-X, CFM International's (GE/Snecma) technology program focusing on future advances for next-generation CFM56 engines. The upcoming rig tests will focus mostly on the acoustic characteristics of various fan configurations, as well as performance and efficiency characteristics. Engine noise is a prime challenge in operating open-rotor engine systems in a commercial aviation environment.