Our team recommends utilizing flight path optimization to avoid contrail red-zones for the present, allowing for planes to maneuver at lower altitudes at certain places to avoid the conditions that would generally cause a large contrail to form. This would include diverging from the regular flight path for a set distance and then returning back to it after. For the future, NASA could consider using heat exchangers to cool exhaust air such that water vapor can condense, preventing it from being at the right pressure to form a contrail.
Our team recommends utilizing flight path optimization through data collection to avoid contrail red-zones for the present, allowing for planes to maneuver at higher altitudes at certain places to avoid the conditions that would generally cause a large contrail to form.
Although lower and higher altitudes both can be alternatives for maneuvering, going higher is a preferred path as it lowers the chances of a contrail being formed. Going higher means that the air is thinner, which allows for higher engine efficiency, which is why it's a preferred path over going lower, where the lower altitudes have more pressure and higher temperatures
For the future, our group suggests to suppress or reduce the water vapor emission index altogether, not allowing the contrail to form at all. It is apparent that water emissions are necessary to contrail formation, as stated by the FAA, and this heat exchanger reduces water emissions.
However, heat exchangers are not yet advanced enough to make this a reality just yet. So, NASA could look into researching advanced heat exchanger technologies and implement them into aircraft to lower water emission index and ultimately prevent contrails from forming. Preventing contrails from forming is definitely a step in the right direction for NASA’s goal of Green Aviation.
