NASA and Boeing try to chase the contrail clouds away
- Reference: 1698758111
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2023/10/31/cutting_contrails_with_saf/
- Source link:
Contrails are lines of clouds left by high-flying aircraft formed when water vapor in engine exhaust condenses and freezes. The clouds themselves are made up of ice particles and some scientists worry that a global cumulative effect might be to trap heat in the atmosphere.
"Contrails are believed to be a major source of pollution," [1]said Rich Moore , a research scientist in NASA's Langley Aerosol Research Group Experiment. "With this mission, we're looking not so much at correcting contrails, but at preventing them."
[2]
The study involves Boeing's ecoDemonstrator Explorer aircraft, a 737-10, being followed by NASA's flying science laboratory, a DC-8. The 737 switches between tanks of conventional fuel and 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel while the DC-8 measures emissions and contrail ice formation.
[3]
[4]
Scientists hope the data collected will determine if sustainable aviation fuel will help reduce the formation of contrails.
Research from NASA over the past decade has shown that using sustainable aviation fuels can cut particle emissions, and efforts are focused on matching the performance of conventional fuel without contributing more carbon dioxide.
[5]Boeing gives busy billionaires unbothered about bespoke beds a cheaper BizJet
[6]British boffins say aircraft could fly on trash, cutting pollution debt by 80%
[7]Boeing takes flight in sustainability battle with carbon data cruncher
[8]Airbus takes its long, thin, plane on a ten-day test campaign
Still, sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) has a long way to go before becoming commonplace. The World Economic Forum [9]estimates that less than 0.1 percent of global consumption is SAF, which is considerably more expensive than conventional fuel while suffering from a lower energy density – bang per buck if you will.
According to the World Economic Forum: "Planes would therefore need to carry high volumes of SAF to make long-haul flights – such high volumes that it could become impractical."
[10]
All the same, Virgin Atlantic did manage a commercial flight from Orlando to London Gatwick in 2018 [11]on SAF .
As for NASA's contrail work, the plan is to publish the results within a year. "One of the most amazing things about this collaboration is that this data will be released publicly with the world," Moore said.
The clock is ticking. Airlines that are members of the International Air Transport Association (IATA) have committed to achieving net-zero carbon emissions from their operations by 2050. Should SAF be shown to cut contrails, progress toward that goal will be highly visible. ®
Get our [12]Tech Resources
[1] https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/armstrong/nasa-partners-explore-sustainable-fuels-effects-on-aircraft-contrails/
[2] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2ZUEytoQ@5hnPixcMhyYFVQAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[3] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZUEytoQ@5hnPixcMhyYFVQAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33ZUEytoQ@5hnPixcMhyYFVQAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/20/boeing_business_jet_modular_interiors/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2023/10/17/sustainable_jet_fuel/
[7] https://www.theregister.com/2023/05/18/boeing_sustainability_tool/
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/14/a321xlr_airbus_functional_testing/
[9] https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2023/05/what-is-sustainable-aviation-fuel/
[10] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44ZUEytoQ@5hnPixcMhyYFVQAAAI0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[11] https://corporate.virginatlantic.com/gb/en/business-for-good/planet/carbon/sustainable-aviation-fuel.html
[12] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
HAARP, MK Ultra, cheese pizza, wayfair catalogues, Davos, WEF, fluoride in the water, flat earth... its a LONG list :)
But this just convinces us that they ARE up to something with the chemtrails. They are just trying to hide it.
WWG1WGA!
Obligatory [1]xkcd .
[1] https://xkcd.com/966/
SMART meters, 5G the list goes on and on and on
Vapour trails
They may be able to reduce the particulate emissions from powered aircraft, but gliders (sailplanes in the USA) can also produce vapour trails in flight. Just google "Glider creating vapour trail' for some photographic evidence.
Still, reducing high altitude pollution has got to be a good thing.
Re: Vapour trails
Those chemtrails by gliders are due to them releasing water ballast before landing. They're plain liquid water, neither vapor nor ice.
Re: Vapour trails
I have been in several glider flights where despite there being no ballast wing-tip vortices created short vapour trails ands seen them created by acrobatic glider manoeuvres without the release of ballast.
Re: Vapour trails
Sorry, but no.
Gliders can create something that looks like a vapour trail when dumping waterballast, but this is very temporary, and the mechanism is quite different.
If the water content in the atmosphere is very high, then low pressure areas over a wing surface or at the tips of wings and propellers can trigger to vapour (see fighter jets flying transonic inside a lens shaped cloud), but this will dissapate again almost immediately once ambient pressure is restored.
Gliders have such low wing loadings (currently up to approximately max. 60 kg / m^2), that you must be very lucky to see under-pressure triggered vapour trails example: https://youtu.be/cFgwmap8SW0?si=vzkGDeP1w5LQbuco .
Vapour trails from airliners are completely different beasts. Jet engines burn hydrocarbons. The carbon part combines with atmospheric oxygen to create CO2. The Hydrogen part combines with atmospheric oxygen to create water steam. This steam is then rolled up into the trailing wingtip vortices and, if the atmospheric conditions are right, condensates into a linear cloud that can last for quite some time.
Soot particles from un-clean combustion may also help in the process. IIRC, running the combustion hotter may reduce soot, but increase NOX formation.
Replacing hydrocarbons with hydrogen will remove CO2 and soot, but the other issues remain.
Pollution
> "Contrails are lines of clouds left by high-flying aircraft formed when water vapor in engine exhaust condenses and freezes. The clouds themselves are made up of ice particles
> "Contrails are believed to be a major source of pollution,"
So water, in the sky = pollution.
Oh, drat! I just started raining. Now the pollution is everywhere!
{C3PO voice} "We're dooooomed!"
Won't someone think of the poor foil-hatters!
What will they have to live for... except the lizard people... oh, and vaccines... and the election... and......