Poster's note: Please see p32 of the linked report for the design of a geoengineering-specific drone aircraft
https://github.com/lukekulik/saga-one/blob/master/SAGA_FinalDesignReport.pdf The concern of global warming is present more than ever. The efforts to stop global warming focus on solving the problem in the long term, by reducing emissions and capturing currently present greenhouse gases. Future scenarios depend on many aspects, making the prediction of greenhouse gas concentrations and the climate’s response uncertain. If the most pessimistic trends unfold, an unacceptable temperature increase before long term solutions kick in may occur. A temporary intervention to manage global temperatures and prevent this whilst working on the implementation of a permanent solution may therefore be required. Stratospheric geoengineering, more specifically, solar radation management (SRM), offers such a temporary solution. A possible implementation of SRM is the injection of aerosols in the stratosphere, producing stratospheric clouds which reflect part of the incoming sunlight. This report aims to describe the preliminary technical and operational design a fleet of purpose-built Stratospheric Aerosol Geoengineering Aircraft (SAGA) to deliver five megatons of aerosol per year to altitudes between 18.5 and 19.5km to gain insight in the costs and impact of such a system. A fleet of almost 350 aircraft with a range of 7000km is proposed to deliver five megatons of aerosol to the stratosphere. With a payload of 35 tons, two regional flights per aircraft per day meet this requirement. For optimal aerosol activity, the injection is proposed in the tropical region, where seven airports will facilitate SAGA operations. The aerosol consists of sulfuric acid – H2SO4. The technical aircraft constraints for the SAGA mission require a very specific design. The high altitude and high payload create the need for a high aspect ratio of 13, a wing surface area of 700 m2 and 4 engines each capable of providing in excess of 600 kN of sea level thrust. Following from these requirements, the structural weight and aeroelastic effects are critical design drivers, requiring a 28.2 metric ton strut-braced wing. An aerosol storage and dispersion system requiring ground pre-heating and 1.65 MW of engine-supplied power ensures a constant evaporation of 2.1 kg/s. SAGA will also be unmanned. Care for the environment is a social responsibility, thus economical profits are not the goal of the SAGA mission. SAGA is therefore proposed as a worldwide program, in which governments form a supervising and funding consortium. A maximum total development cost of $100 billion and a maximum yearly operating cost of $11 billion are expected to meet the operations. Finally, the environmental impact of the aerosol in the stratosphere is estimated to reduce solar influx to counteract a 25% increase in CO¬2 concentration, while SAGA’s contribution to atmospheric sulfur compounds is estimated to 4%. SAGA’s contribution to worldwide fuel consumption is determined to 0.03% only. The SAGA project concludes that an aircraft-based platform for stratospheric geoengineering is feasible interms of technical design, costs and environmental impact. It is a realistic, short-term achievable option with a high technological readiness level. While several design risks remain at this stage of development, a detailed design phase and careful future planning may facilitate implementation of SAGA in 7 years. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "geoengineering" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to geoengineering+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to geoengineering@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at https://groups.google.com/group/geoengineering. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
