Recipient organisationCranfield UniversitySource-published name: Cranfield University
Funding£2.1M
PeriodJan 2023 — Dec 2026
In plain English
AI plain-English summary
Rolls-Royce is redesigning its UltraFan jet engine to burn hydrogen and sustainable aviation fuel, aiming for a 20% reduction in fuel burn compared to current engines. This matters because short- and medium-range aircraft produce roughly half of all aviation emissions today. Current engines cannot run on net-zero carbon fuels at the scale needed for climate-neutral flight. The HEAVEN project addresses that gap by evolving an existing engine architecture—UltraFan, first developed in 2014—into a new version called UltraFan H2. The design combines a very high bypass ratio geared engine with hybrid electric technology to capture wasted energy, and it will incorporate innovations already at technology readiness level 3. If successful, the engine could reach technology readiness level 6 by 2035, supporting entry into service that same year. For the flying public, this means future short-haul flights could produce near-zero carbon emissions without requiring entirely new aircraft designs. For the aviation industry, it offers a practical pathway to decarbonise the largest share of flight emissions using fuels that can be produced from renewable sources. The consortium includes easyJet, Europe’s largest operator of short- and medium-range aircraft, ensuring the design reflects real operational needs.
View original technical description
Climate-neutral aviation will require the use of alternative fuels such as Green Hydrogen and Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) combined with the power density of an ultra-efficient gas turbine engine for the Small and Medium Range (SMR) market which corresponds to approximately 50% of the current share of air transport emissions. Rolls-Royce (represented within the HEAVEN project by RR-UK, RR-D and ITP) supported by key UK and European academia, industry and research centres are currently developing a new generation of very high bypass ratio geared engine architecture called UltraFan® which was started in 2014. From the beginning this ducted engine architecture has been designed to be scalable and meet the needs both of widebody and SMR markets. To achieve the necessary 20% fuel burn reduction Rolls-Royce proposes to significantly evolve the UltraFan design into UltraFan H2. The evolved engine architecture design will take the next steps in improving the efficiency of the gas turbine, take advantage of the properties of net zero carbon fuels such as Hydrogen to improve efficiency, combining this with Hybrid electric technology to reduce wasted energy. Numerous innovative enabling technologies already at TR3 will be incorporated into this new architecture to improve the gas turbine efficiency. Together with work proposed on Hydrogen in CAVENDISH (HRA-01) and Hybrid Electric in HE-ART (HER-01) Clean Aviation proposals in conjunction with activities in national and regional programmes, this will be synergistically combined to validate up to TRL6 the highly innovative UltraFan H2 design to support a 2035 EIS. HEAVEN brings together a highly specialised European industrial and academic consortium already strongly involved and familiar with the UltraFan programme. Additionally, the partner easyJet, European airline operator who have the largest fleet of European manufactured SMR aircraft operating in Europe will bring an in depth knowledge of operational requirements.
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