NASA and GE to explore contrails

Understanding the influence of condensation trails on global warming

At the Farnborough International Airshow in July, aviation industry technical directors called for a strengthening of government research programs to improve understanding of the effects of aviation other than CO2, such as contrails, nitrogen oxides (NOx), sulfur, aerosols and soot. To this end, GE Aerospace and NASA are teaming up for a series of unique flight tests to better understand contrails, using new testing methods and technologies. Persistent contrails are believed to have an impact on global warming. The flight tests will support research efforts to better understand the science of contrails and enable the development of new technologies that can reduce non-CO2 emissions.

CODEX, a scientific flight campaign

To this end, the flights of the CODEX experiment (acronym for Contrail Optical Depth Experiment) will take place the week of November 18 from Virginia. A Gulfstream G-III from NASA Langley Research Center will follow GE Aerospace’s flying test bed in the sky and scan the aircraft’s wake using Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology. laser). This will allow NASA to use LiDAR to generate three-dimensional images of contrails to better characterize their formation and behavior over time.

Identify favorable conditions for studying the formation of condensation trails

NASA, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and SATAVIA, a British company acquired by Aerospace Carbon Solutions, a GE Aerospace company, will collaborate on atmospheric forecasts to identify favorable conditions for studying the formation of carbon trails. condensation. The DLR will help predict the altitude and dimensions of contrail formation regions and their evolution, which is necessary to guide the aircraft through rapidly moving contrail regions.

Predict the formation of contrails in ice-saturated regions

After flight testing, the contrail model can be validated using LiDAR observations to improve contrail prediction capabilities. Additionally, lessons learned from the flight tests will help SATAVIA – which offers a contrail forecasting and management service – validate and improve its numerical weather forecasting capability used to predict the formation of contrails in regional areas. super-saturated ice (ISSR).