Geoengineering

Geoengineering Cost Analysis
Final Report
Prepared Under Contract to
The University Of Calgary
Contract Number: __UC01-001______
Aurora Report Number: ____AR10-182__

October 30, 2010
Prepared by
Justin McClellan
James Sisco, Brandon Suarez, Greg Keogh
Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation
1 Broadway, 12th Floor
Cambridge, Massachusetts 02142
www.aurora.aero
Geoengineering Final Report

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Executive Summary ..................................................................................... 3

1 Introduction ........................................................................................... 6
1.1 What is Geoengineering? ................................................................................ 6
1.2 Introduction to This Study................................................................................ 6
1.3 Chemistry Considerations Affecting Dispersal ................................................ 7
2
3
Geoengineering Concept of Operations ................................................ 8

Basis for Cost Models ......................................................................... 10
3.1 RAND DAPCA IV Cost Estimating Relationships .......................................... 10
3.2 Assumptions and Cost Inputs........................................................................ 17
3.3 Comparable operating airlines ...................................................................... 19
4
Overview of Aircraft Design and Selection .......................................... 21

4.1 Altitude Capability: Aerodynamics ................................................................. 21
4.2 Altitude Capability: Propulsion....................................................................... 22
5
Analysis of Existing Aircraft and Results ............................................. 33

5.1
5.2
5.3
5.4
5.5
6
New Aircraft Design ............................................................................ 43

6.1
6.2
6.3
6.4
7
Assumptions specific to analysis of existing aircraft ...................................... 33

Choice of Platforms ....................................................................................... 34
Cost Estimates .............................................................................................. 35
Modifications to Existing Aircraft ................................................................... 37
Conclusions................................................................................................... 40
New Aircraft Assumptions ............................................................................. 45
Uncertainty Analysis ...................................................................................... 45
Cost Estimates .............................................................................................. 46
Conclusions................................................................................................... 48
Airships ............................................................................................... 50

7.1 Airship Design Considerations and Assumptions .......................................... 50
7.2 Cost Estimates .............................................................................................. 54
7.3 Conclusions................................................................................................... 56
8
Non-Aircraft Systems .......................................................................... 62

8.1 Rocket Powered Glider ................................................................................. 62
8.2 Guns ............................................................................................................. 63
8.3 Floating Platform with Slurry Pipe / Gas Pipe................................................ 67
9
Conclusions......................................................................................... 74
9.1 Comparison of All Systems ........................................................................... 74
9.2 Recommendations for Future Work .............................................................. 78
10 Appendix ............................................................................................. 79

10.1 Basing Options .............................................................................................. 79
10.2 HLA Sizing Equations ................................................................................... 79
10.3 HLA Architecture Comparisons ..................................................................... 81
10.4 Existing HLA Hangars ................................................................................... 84
Page 2

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Executive Summary
Geoengineering has been defined as: the deliberate large-scale manipulation of the
planetary environment to counteract anthropogenic climate change.1 As Lord Rees,
chair of The Royal Society, wrote in the forward to the Society's 2009 report on geoengineering,
"The continuing rise in the atmospheric concentration of greenhouse gases, mainly caused by the burning of
fossil fuels, is driving changes in the Earths climate. The long-term consequences will be exceedingly
threatening, especially if nations continue business as usual in the coming decades. Most nations now recognize the need to shift to a low-carbon economy, and nothing should divert us from the main priority of reducing global greenhouse gas emissions. But if such reductions achieve too little, too late, there will surely
be pressure to consider a plan Bto seek ways to counteract the climatic effects of greenhouse gas emissions by geoengineering Far more detailed study would be needed before any method could even be
seriously considered for deployment on the requisite international scale. Moreover, it is already clear than
none offers a silver bullet, and that some options are far more problematic than others.2".
Geoengineering may be a means to create a time buffer against catastrophic climate

change while long-term emissions reduction actions take effect. One approach is to
disperse particulates at high altitude to reduce the effective solar flux entering the atmosphere. Sulfur compounds have been proposed, similar to the compounds emitted
during volcanic eruptions that have been found to cool surface temperatures. As shown
in Figure 1, the reduction in top-of-atmosphere solar flux is dependent on the quantity of
sulfur dispersed per year. Other particulates may also be suitable. This study investigates means of transporting quantities
geoengineering payload to altitude and
releasing it at specified release rates.
A variety of systems including airplanes, airships, rockets, guns, and
suspended pipes are examined with a
goal of lifting 1 million tonnes to altitude per year; we also evaluate 3 and
5 MT/year for a few delivery systems.
Figure 1: Reduction in incoming
top-of-atmosphere (TOA) solar flux
achieved for a given yearly dispersal rate.3
Geoengineering the Climate: Science, Governance and Uncertainty, p. 1, The Royal Society, London, September 2009, 98 pp. ISBN: 978-0-85403-773-5
2
Ibid, p. v.
Jeffrey R. Pierce, Debra K. Weisenstein, Patricia Heckendorn, Thomas Peter, and David
W. Keith. Efficient formation of stratospheric aerosol for climate engineering by emission of condensable vapor from aircraft Geophysical review letters, volume 37, doi: 10.1029/2010GL043975
Page 3

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Existing aircraft are evaluated based on cost of acquisition and operations. An in-depth
new aircraft design study and cost analysis was conducted to determine the cost of developing and operating a dedicated geoengineering airplane type. Similarly, an airship
design study and cost analysis was conducted. Finally a survey of non-aircraft systems
was conducted to determine how their costs compare to aircraft and airships.
Yearly costs of 1M tonne geoengineering operations for all the systems examined are
presented in Figure 2. Some systems are easily written off due to extremely high costs.
Rocket based systems are not cost competitive due to the large number of launches required and the impact of occasional rocket failures on required fleet size. A system
based on 16 naval Mark 7 guns was analyzed and compared to previous work by the
National Research Council.4 This system requires large numbers of shots increasing
projectile costs and driving yearly costs over $100B. Gun costs become more competitive if the projectile payload fraction can be increased from about 10% for a standard
shell to 50%. With this and a few improvements over the 1940-era Mark 7 gun yearly
costs are still in the $20B range.
United States. National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine. Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming- Mitigation, Adaptation, and the Science Base.
Washington: National Academy Press, 1992
Page 4

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
YearlyTotalCostComparison(1Mtonnes/year)
$10,000.00
$10 T
YearlyCost
$1,000.00
$1T
$100.00
$100B
NewDesignAirplane
HybridAirship
Boeing747Class
ModifiedGulfstreamClass
Gun(Mark716")
Gun(ModernizedMark7)
Rocket
Chimney
Gas Pipe
SlurryPipe
Rocket
Gun(Mark716")
GasPipe
$10.00
$10B
$1.00
$1B
ModifiedGulfstream
Class
Boeing747Class
Gun(Modernized
Mark7)
SlurryPipe
HybridAirship
NewAircraftDesign
$0.10
$100M
Altitude(kft) 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Figure 2: Yearly cost (including depreciation, interest, and operations costs) for 1M tonne per year
geoengineering
Planes are estimated to have yearly costs including interest payments and depreciation
for a 1M tonne up-mass costing about $1B to $2B for a new airplane design. Baseline
airships costs are competitive with airplanes but with no airships currently operating
above 20kft, their technological maturity is low increasing cost uncertainty. As altitude
increases past 60kft, airplanes become limited by current propulsion systems and may
require expensive engine development efforts. Airships do allow more propulsion flexibility but their large surface area complicates operations in the presence of high altitude
winds and wind shear while transiting the jet stream. Existing airplanes are capable of
efficient lower altitude geoengineering operations but with modifications altitude can be
pushed to the 65kft. This comes at a cost of additional engines and larger fleet size due
to longer missions. Pipes suspended by floating platforms do provide low recurring
costs to pump a liquid or gas to altitudes as high as 70kft, but the research, development, testing, and evaluation costs of these systems are high and carry a large uncertainty. The pipe systems high operating pressures and tensile strength requirments
bring the feasibility of this system into question. The pipe itself will require advanced
materials and significant engineering to withstand the immense pressures and forces
acting on it. Other systems (e.g. sounding rockets) do provide access to high altitude
but their costs do not compete with the systems mentioned here.
Airplane geoengineering operations are comparable to the yearly operations of a small
airline, and are dwarfed by the operations of a large airline like FedEx or Southwest.
Page 5

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
1 Introduction
1.1
What is Geoengineering?
Geoengineering may provide a means to create a time buffer against catastrophic climate change while long-term emissions reduction actions take effect. One approach is
to disperse sulfur compounds at high altitude to reduce the effective solar flux entering
the atmosphere. This report will evaluate the means of delivering sufficient mass of this
or similar material to affect climate change on a global scale.
1.2
Introduction to This Study
The goal of this study is to use engineering design and cost analysis to determine the
feasibility and cost of a delivering material to the stratosphere for solar radiation management (SRM). This study does not examine effectiveness or risks of injecting material
into the stratosphere for SRM. Its goal is simply to compare a range of delivery systems
on a single cost basis.
Key assumptions:
Parameter
Mass per year
Value
1 Million tonnes
Altitude range
40 to 100 kft
Payload cost
Payload density
Not considered
1 kg/L
Payload dispersal rate
0.1 to 0.003 kg/m
Rational
The rough order of magnitude needed for planetary scale SRM. Values of 3M, and 5M also
considered for some systems.
SRM is generally thought to be most effective
in this altitude range, with current models
showing increased effectiveness above 60 kft.
Equivalent to water. Payload density sufficiently large that payload volume can be ignored.
Release rate per meter flown to obtain ideal
particle size. Goal of 0.03 kg/m.
The primary vehicles examined to lift particulate to stratospheric altitudes and disperse
them at a predetermined release rate are airplanes and airships; rockets and other nonaircraft methods such as guns and suspended pipes are also surveyed.
Existing airplanes, modified airplanes, and clean sheet designs requiring development
and testing are examined. Fleet setup cost analysis looked at costs of starting up a
geoengineering operation by purchasing airplanes, designing and acquiring new airplanes or airships, or constructing other systems. Operations cost analysis looked at
the fuel costs, electricity costs, personnel costs, maintenance costs of systems. Finally, yearly costs combined operations with depreciation of the systems initial costs as
well as financing charges over the 20-year system life.
1.2.1 Glossary
The following is a list of terms and their definitions used in the report:
Page 6

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
RDT&E
Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation
Fleet (Acquisition)
Cost
Cost to set up new aircraft fleet, including RDT&E and acquisition costs of aircraft.
Similarly, cost of developing and constructing non-aircraft systems.
Yearly Operations
Cost
Cost of operating aircraft fleet, including maintenance, fuel, personnel, spare parts
for 1 year. Similarly, cost operating non-aircraft systems.
Yearly Total Cost
Combined cost of operations and depreciation of aircraft fleet or system over 20year life as well as 10% interest charge for financing over 20 years.
Regional Dispersal
CONOP
Aircraft concept of operations with dispersal taking place in a region close to the
aircraft base. Out and back flight path.
Transit Dispersal
CONOP
Aircraft concept of operations with dispersal taking place during long transit leg
between bases.
Hybrid Airship
(HLA)
An airship that (at some altitude) develops lift from aerodynamics in addition to
buoyancy
Altitudes are expressed in feet in accordance with International Civil Aviation Organization standards. Altitudes for atmospheric chemistry are typically presented in kilometers
so where possible, both feet and kilometers are presented. A conversion table is presented below:
1.3
Thousands of Feet (kft):
40
60
70
80
100
Kilometers:
12.2
18.2
21.3
24.4
30.5
Chemistry Considerations Affecting Dispersal
Atmospheric chemistry analysis as well

as observation of surface temperatures
after large volcanic eruptions has shown
that injection of sulfur compounds into
the stratosphere reduces incoming solar
flux. The mass of sulfur compounds released is directly proportional to the reduction in incoming flux achieved
(Figure 3). Current anthropogenic net
forcing is ~ 2 W/m2.
Figure 3: Reduction in incoming top-ofatmosphere (TOA) solar flux achieved for a
given yearly dispersal rate.5
Pierce et al., op. cit.
Page 7

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
For the purposes of this study, a baseline up-mass rate of 1 million tonnes a year is
assumed, equivalent to an estimated reduction in flux of 0.6 to 1.3 W/m2. Additionally, 3
million tonnes (estimated 0.8 to 2.2 W/m2 reduction) and 5 million tonnes (estimated 1
to 3.5 w/m2 reduction) mass-rates are also examined to provide an understanding for
how the costs of a geoengineering operation scale with yearly up-mass rate.
The effectiveness of geoengineering is strongly dependent on the type or particle and
the particle size deployed. Most studies of geoengineering focus on the release of SO2
or H2S gas into the stratosphere where over time (~1 month), they are converted to
condensable H2SO4. Recent work by Pierce et al has shown that directly emitting
H2SO4 allows better control of particle size6 and therefore more effective reflection of
incoming flux. For the purposes of this study, we have assumed the geoengineering
payload is a liquid with a density of 1000 kg/m3 (In gas pipe analysis, a density of 1.22
kg/m^3 is assumed), emitted as a vapor. The larger geoengineering particles, the faster
they settle out of the atmosphere. If they are too small, they do not effectively scatter
incoming solar flux. The peak scattering effectiveness of H2SO4 aerosols is about 0.2
microns (Mie theory). To achieve the proper particle size, the vapor must be emitted at
a rate that prevents particles from coagulating into large particles. Analysis7 has shown
that a release rate of 0.1 to 0.003 kilograms per meter travelled by the aircraft limits
coagulation. For the purposes of this study, concepts of operations are designed
around a release rate of 0.03kg/m. However, in some cases higher rates are required
due to limitations on airplane range or dispersal method.
2 Geoengineering Concept of Operations

This study focuses on airplane and airship operations to the stratosphere to release a
geoengineering payload with the goal of reducing incoming solar flux. Airships are also
considered for this mission. To provide a comparison to conventional aircraft operations, more exotic concepts such as rockets, guns, and suspended pipes are also examined.
For maximum cooling impact, the particulate payloads are best placed near the equator.
This study assumes that the payload is released within latitudes 30N and 30S, though
North-South basing location had minimal effect on cost. Transit operations, flying EastWest between equally spaced bases around the equator, were examined as a method
to ensure adequate dispersal of the payload around the equator. Global winds aid in
East-West dispersal so a smaller number of bases and shorter range systems (referred
to as Regional operations) can be employed with minimal impact on dispersal. Regional operations allow the dispersal leg length to be dictated by the desired release rate of
0.03kg/m flown. This means the airplanes fly no further than they have to, on the order
of 300-800 km, and fuel costs are minimized. Transit operations are not economical as
Page 8

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
the leg length is dictated by the distance between bases (for 8-base operations, legs are
approximately 5,000 km) causing release rates to be low and fuel costs to be high. A
comparison of regional and transit operations utilizing Boeing 747s (at its service ceiling
of 45,000 feet) is as follows:
x
Regional: 747s operating regionally from multiple bases

o 14 airplanes, payload dispersed over 1,500 km cruise leg at a rate of
0.036 kg/m flown
o $0.8B for acquisition and $1B for one year of operations
o 0.66M tonnes fuel burned per year
Transit: 747s transiting from 8 bases

0.012 kg/m flown
o $1.4 B for acquisition and $2.8B for one year of operations
Transit: 747s transiting from 4 bases

0.005 kg/m flown
o $2.8B for acquisition and $4.5B for one year of operations
Figure 4: Notional basing strategy for a geoengineering effort. Existing civilian and military facilities in Palmdale, USA, Manta, Ecuador, and Perth, Australia are capable of supporting geoengineering support facilities and operations. The prevailing winds, shown as arrows, serve to further
distribute the particulate around the equatorial region.
Page 9

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Regional dispersal from several bases provides fuel cost savings and particulate is
spread globally via winds. A notional basing strategy is shown (Figure 4) with arrows
indicating the direction prevailing winds will carry the released particulate.
Care is taken to choose bases capable of supporting high-tempo geoengineering operations and with the land available to allow any ramp or hanger expansion necessary. It
should be noted that the costs of any facility improvement are not included in the cost
analysis presented in subsequent sections. DHL recently built a state-of-the-art Central
Asia Cargo Hub at Hong Kong Airport, the faculty is designed to handle 2.6M tonnes
annually and required investment of approximately $1B.8
For aircraft operations, fuel burn is estimated using the mission profile shown in Figure
5, each segment representing a percentage of total fuel burned on the mission.
Figure 5: Mission profile for airplane and airship operations. Each leg represents a percentage of fuel burned
during the mission.
3 Basis for Cost Models

Cost estimates of airplanes and other engineered
systems are developed through the use of statistical cost estimating relationships (CER). CERs are
based on historical costs of development programs
and use one or more input variables such as the
empty weight of an aircraft, flight hours per year, or
V of a rocket to solve for a variety of output values
such as engineering hours, spare parts cost, or
cost of personnel. In the case of CERs that output
labor hours, a labor rate is used to determine the cost of labor. Payload supply line
costs are not included in operations costs (the payload is assumed to be at the air base
ready for loading). Air base infrastructure improvement, ramp lease costs, and landing
fees are not included in operations or start up costs.
3.1
RAND DAPCA IV Cost Estimating Relationships
The RAND Corporation has developed a set of airplane CERs, the Development and
Procurement Costs of Aircraft model, or DAPCA. Originally developed in the late
1960s, the DAPCA CER model is a flexible one, well suited to a cost prediction for a variety of airplane types. It has been updated several times to utilize statistics for more
Hong Kong International Airport. Our Business: Air Cargo. July 10th, 2010. <
http://www.hongkongairport.com/eng/business/about-the-airport/air-cargo/business-partners.html>
Page 10

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
modern airplanes improving accuracy. Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation (RDT&E) costs are modeled using an inflation updated version of the original RAND
model. Daniel Raymers9 modified version of the DAPCA model is used as the basis for
the RDT&E cost analysis for airplanes and airships.
The CERs are based on data for historic airplanes that are standard in configuration
and built from aluminum. When costing a more complex system, it is necessary to
scale the predicted costs by a Difficulty Factor. This multiplier scales the labor hours
predicted by the CERs according to the relative difficulty to design and produce an airplane that utilizes more advanced composite materials and operates at higher altitude.
Difficulty Factors are as follows:
Table 1: Difficulty Factor used to scale labor estimates based on cruise altitude of airplane
Cruise Altitude
< 70,000 ft
70,000 85,000 ft
> 85,000 ft
(< 21.3 km)

(21.3 25.9 km)
(> 25.9 km)
Difficulty Factor
1
2
3
It can be expected that an aircraft of Difficulty Factor 2 uses larger quantities of composites or titanium, utilizes advanced aerodynamics such as laminar flow wings, and requires roughly double the engineering labor that a more typical aircraft requires. A Difficulty Factor 3 aircraft uses all composites and advanced materials, requires integration
of advanced new propulsion systems, and requires roughly three times the engineering
labor of a conventional design.
3.1.1 RDT&E Labor Hours and Costs
Below is a discussion of each component of the airplane cost model. Note that the input variables in the equations below are in US Customary units (speeds are in knots).
Specific models used for non-airplane systems will be discussed in subsequent sections.
Variables used:
We = Empty weight of aircraft (lbs)
Vmax = maximum cruise speed of aircraft (kts)
Np = Number of prototypes
Df = Difficulty factor
Raymer, Daniel P. Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach. Reston: American Institute of Aeronautics
and Astronautics, Inc., 1999
Page 11

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
RDT&E Engineering Hours:

RDT&E Manufacturing Hours:

RDT&E Tooling Hours:

Where R is Rate of Production, assumed to be 2 airplanes per month. The labor hours
determined from theses CERs are multiplied by labor rates to obtain cost. Labor rate
assumptions are discussed in the next section. The following CERs were modified by
Raymer10 to provide costs in FY 1999 dollars. These costs are then scaled by 1.30 to
adjust them to FY2010 dollars.
RDT&E Development Support Costs:

RDT&E Flight Test Costs:

RDT&E Materials Cost:

RDT&E Engine Development Cost:
As is discussed in more detail in section 4.2, propulsion at high altitude is a significant
challenge. Conventional engines can perform well up to altitudes of about 60,000 ft, but
beyond that, additional testing, adaptation for special fuel blends, and/or development of
modified/new propulsion concepts is required. A custom CER was developed to model
the increasing development cost as airplanes cruise altitude is increased. The basis for
this scaling is discussed in detail in section 4.2.1.
Variables used:
T = Thrust per engine (lbf)
10
Raymer, Daniel P. Aircraft Design: A Conceptual Approach. Reston: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., 1999. Pg 586 - 587
Page 12

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Ne = Number of engines per aircraft

Ti = Temperature at the turbine entrance (R)
Mmax = Maximum Mach number of the aircraft
< 45,000 ft (13.7 km): Basic RAND engine procurement cost model11

45,000 65,000 ft (13.7 19.8 km): Basic procurement model doubled to account for
recertification and testing of engine

65,000 80,000 ft (19.8 24.4 km): Basic procurement model doubled, plus $1B for
modifications and adaptation to non-standard fuel

> 80,000 ft (> 24.4 km): Basic procurement model doubled, plus $2B for new technology
development

This yields an engine development cost function that varies strongly with altitude. The
results of this function are compared to several engine development efforts (Figure 6).
The cost function matches the historic development efforts well when the service ceilings are adjusted to more realistic engine flame out altitude based on similar engine and
aircraft capabilities12.
11
Birkler, J. L., Garfinkle, J. B., and Marks, K. E., Development and Production Cost Estimating Relationships For Aircraft Turbine Engines, Rand Corp., Report N-1882-AF, Santa Monica, CA, 1982
12
During a 1963 altitude record setting flight by Commander Leroy Heath and Lieutenant Larry Monroe,
their A3J-1 Vigilante flamed out at 91,000 ft. During a 1975, record setting flight, lightened F-15 Streak
Eagle flamed out at 98,000 ft. These flame out altitudes are reduced to 80,000 ft to allow a more stable combustion in the burner.
Page 13
EngineDevelopmentCost
($Billions)

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
EngineDevelopmentandAcquisitionCost
$6.0
EngineDev.Cost(2010)
ActualData(PublishedCeiling)
ActualData(RealisticCeiling)
$5.0
$4.0
GE F136
(JSF)
Pratt F119
(F-22)
$3.0
$2.0
engine dev. costs $1B
$1.0
C-5 RERP
$0.0
20
40
60
Altitude(kft)
80
100
Figure 6: Estimated engine development cost CER result compared to several recent engine development efforts. The dashed line represents the cost typically quoted when engine manufacturers are asked how much it will cost to develop a custom engine.
RDT&E Avionics Development Cost:

For unmanned vehicle

For manned vehicle

3.1.2 Production Labor Hours and Cost

The following are the cost models for production costs. Np is equal to the number of aircraft produced.
Production Engineering Hours:

Production Manufacturing Hours:

Production Tooling Hours:

Where R is Rate of Production, assumed to be 2 airplanes per month. The labor hours
determined from theses CERs are multiplied by labor rates to obtain cost. Labor rate
assumptions are discussed in the next section. The following CERs were modified by
Page 14

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Raymer to provide costs in FY 1999 dollars. These costs are then scaled by 1.30 to adjust them to FY2010 dollars.
Production Materials Cost:

Production Engine Development Cost:
During the production phase, the engines costs are modeled using the basic RAND engine procurement cost model:

Production Avionics Development Cost:
Avionics are typically between 5% and 25% of total airplane cost depending on sophistication. For this study the following relations are used:
For unmanned vehicle

For manned vehicle

3.1.3 Fleet Size

Fleet size is driven by the mass of payload carried to altitude per year, the sortie duration, and the availability of the aircraft. Sortie duration includes block time (in minutes),
the time from when the blocks are removed from the airplanes wheels at the beginning of a sortie until they are returned to the wheels after the sortie, and a turnaround
time of 150 minutes to refuel and reload the payload (Commercial airliners typically
achieve turnaround times of 60-120 minutes, Geoengineering aircraft may require more
time for loading and due to high operational tempo). Block time consists of:
Preflight
10
minutes
Warm-up, Taxi, Takeoff,

Climb
30
minutes
Flight Time
variable
minutes
Descent, Recovery
20
minutes
Shutdown
minutes
Availability is defined as the percentage of the time the aircraft is mission ready, i.e.
when it is not out of service for scheduled or unscheduled maintenance. It is assumed
to be 80% for most aircraft. Several more maintenance intensive aircraft (F-15, B-1B)
used availability values of 70%.
With the sortie duration known, the following equations are used to determine the required fleet size:
Page 15

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Sorties per Day

Fleet Size
3.1.4 Operations Costs

Fuel Costs
The duration of the cruise leg is determined from aircraft payload mass, cruise speed,
and, desired release rate of the payload. For existing aircraft, the fuel burn rate in
pounds per hour is determined and used to solve for the fuel weight for each sortie. For
new airplane designs, an engine model is used to determine the thrust specific fuel consumption for the engines, then the thrust required and the mission profile are used to
determine the fuel weight for the sortie. The fuel weights are then multiplied by a fuel
cost per unit weight. Lubricating oil accounts for about 0.5% of fuel costs and is ignored.
Personnel Costs
Personnel costs include air crews, site managers, maintenance personnel, and logistics
personnel.
For existing airplanes, a single pilot and payload operator (missions under 8 hours) are
assumed. Their labor rates are multiplied by the number of block hours per year. Similarly, the number of maintenance-man-hours per flight-hour (MMH/FH) for the existing
aircraft is used to determine the yearly number of maintenance labor hours and this is
multiplied by the maintainer labor rate. Additionally, 4 logistic personnel, 1 site manager
per site, and 1 mission director are assumed to work full time and their labor rates are
multiplied by 2,080 labor hours in a standard year.
For new aircraft analysis, flight crews cost per block hour including pilots, copilots, and
payload operators, are estimated from this CER:

Flight crew cost / block hour
Where Vc is cruise speed (knots) and WGTOW is gross weight of the airplane. The remaining maintenance, logistics, and managerial personnel costs per block hour are estimated using the following CER:
Maintenance, Support cost / block hour
Page 16

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
MMH/FH is assumed to be 10 hours per flight hour (unless noted otherwise). The per
block hour labor costs are multiplied by the total number of block hours per year (Block
Time * Sorties per year).
Spare/Replacement Parts Cost
Approximately 50% of the maintenance costs of an aircraft come from the spare parts,
materials, and supplies needed to maintain the aircraft. The following CER is used to
estimate these costs:
Variables Used:
Ca = Cost of aircraft (flyaway cost)
Ce = cost of engines per aircraft
Ne = number of engines per aircraft
Spare Parts/Supplies / block hour
Spare Parts/Supplies / sortie
These values are multiplied by the number of block hours per year and the number of
sorties per year respectively and then added together.
Depreciation and Financing
These costs are not part of operations costs, but they are calculated and used to determine total yearly cost of geoengineering. Depreciation represents the cost of setting up
the aircraft fleet, minus the 10% residual value of the aircraft, divided over 20 years. Cf
is the total cost of the fleet.
Depreciation
Interest charges for financing the geoengineering fleet over 20 years are calculated using a 10% interest rate compounded monthly.
Finance Cost per Month
3.2
Assumptions and Cost Inputs
All costs are presented in 2010 dollars. Inflation adjustments are made based on Consumer Price Index values obtained from the Department of Labor Statistics. For new
design aircraft, 10 MMH/FH is assumed. MMH/FHs for existing aircraft are based on
actual values of deployed aircraft and are tabulated below.
Page 17

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Aircraft
Boeing
747
Boeing
F-15
Gulfstream
C-37A
(G500)
Boeing
C-17
Rockwell
B-1B
MMH/FH
22
Most aircraft cost estimates use an availability of 80% to size their fleets. Some more
maintenance intensive aircraft like the B-1B and F-15 use an availability of 70%. Operations are assumed to be 24-hours a day, 365 days a year. A single aircraft is capable of multiple sorties per day if time permits.
Fuel and labor contribute to a large portion of operations costs so accurately determining fuel prices and labor rates is important to ensuring accurate cost calculations.
Fuel
Fuel costs are determined based on Air Transportation Association of America 2009
Monthly Jet Fuel and Consumption Report. The peak fuel cost for 2009 of $2.01/gallon
or $0.68/kg ($0.31/lb) was used in all calculations.
Labor
Labor rates are determined by surveying the rates for various skill sets from several
companies on the U.S. General Services Administration website. In some cases, CERs
are used to directly determine labor costs. A table of fully burdened labor rates is included below.
Title
Engineer
Tooling Personnel
Manufacturing Personnel
Quality Personnel
Flight Crew
Maintenance Technician
UAV Operator Labor
Flight Crew
Mission Specialist
Site Lead
Mission Director
Logistics Personnel
Rate Used
$133
$81
$81
$160
$153
$65
$106
$28013
$228
$300
$ 49
$100
13
Existing aircraft are heavier and faster (B747, B-1B) than the new design and therefore require more
experienced and higher paid crew
Page 18

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
3.3
Comparable operating airlines
To put the magnitude of 1M tonne geoengineering operations in perspective, FedExs

global lift capacity is 4.3M tonnes per year. The baseline geoengineering up-mass rate
of 1M tonnes is equivalent to 20-25 fully loaded 747-400F flights per day. Depending
on the payload capacity of the aircraft used, sorties per day can vary from 60 to 600.
While hundreds of sorties a day may seem like a lot, it should be noted that Atlantas
Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport handles 180-240 flights per hour.
Cost predictions are compared to multiple existing airlines and operators to ensure CER
predicted costs are reasonable. Publicly owned companies are chosen for comparison
as their annual reports contained detailed cost and operations information. No airline or
operator fulfils the exact geoengineering mission described here, so their operations
numbers are scaled to allow a direct comparison. In the case of existing aircraft the
scale factor is the total tonnage of cargo moved by the comparable operator divided by
the total tonnage moved for geoengineering operations. For the new aircraft analysis,
the short duration of the missions required a more sophisticated scaling method. Total
tonnage moved by the comparable operator is multiplied by the average stage length to
obtain tonne-kilometers per year. The typical geoengineering mission performed by the
new design airplane is 335 km in length, equating to a 335 million tonne-kilometers per
year. The ratio of the comparable operators tonne-kilometers per year to geoengineerings tonne-kilometers per year is used to scale operations cost. Personnel costs for
passenger airlines are scaled by 2/3 to remove counter, reservations, and customer
service personnel. Cargolux
Cargolux is the 9th largest cargo airline in the world. It flies a fleet of Boeing 747-400
freighters between over 90 destinations. Detailed
operations cost data was obtained from the Cargolux
2008 Annual Report14. To compute Cargolux yearly
flight operations costs, cost associated with sales and
marketing, trucking operations, depreciation, and financing are ignored. Due to the similarity between
CargoLuxs operations and geoengineering using
747s, Cargolux operations costs directly compared
against calculated 747 numbers.
Figure 7: Cargolux operates a fleet of 14 Boeing 747 freighters and flew 0.7M tonnes of cargo in
2008. Their operating expenses of $1.4B in 2008 are close to the predicted costs of operations for
a similar geoengineering fleet (Tak, Oct. 2005, http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Cargolux_B747-400F.jpg).
14
Cargolux 2008 Annual Report. http://www.cargolux.com/Press/AnnualReport.php?nid=112 Accessed

1/29/2010
Page 19

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
JetBlue Airlines
JetBlue is a low cost airline that operates a fleet of 110 Airbus A320-200s and 41 Embraer 190s. Because of their homogeneous fleet, Jetblue is a good airline for cost comparison. By assuming a passenger and luggage mass of 113 kg each, JetBlues 21.9M
passengers in 2008 equal 2.48 million
tonnes flown a year. Multiplying this by
their average stage length of 1,820 km
(1,120 mi), JetBlue flew 4,508 million
tonne-kilometers in 2008. Geoengineering
represents 7% of the JetBlue tonnekilometers per year and this is the factor
used to scale JetBlue costs for comparison.
Figure 8: JetBlue operates a fleet of 110 Airbus A320-200s and 41 Embraer 190. It flew 22M passenger in 2008 on an average leg stage of 621 km and had operating expenses equal to $143M
(J. Kurggel, Sept. 2009.
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Greater_Rochester_International_Airport_JetBlue_A320_at_B2.jpg ).
Mesa Air
Mesa Air is a regional airline that operates a fleet of 28 Bombardier CRJ100/200s, 20
CRJ700s, 38 CRJ900s, and 16 Dash 8-200s. Their fleet of smaller regional aircraft and
short stage length makes Mesa a good airline for comparison. Again assuming a passenger and luggage mass of 113 kg each, Mesas 15.9M passengers in 2008 equal
1.81 million tonnes moved a year. Dividing this by their average stage length of 621 km
(385 mi), Mesa flew 1,122 million tonne-kilometers in 2008. Geoengineering represents
30% of the Mesa tonne-kilometers per year and this is the factor used to scale Mesa
costs for comparison.
Southwest Airlines
Southwest Airlines is a low cost airline that operates a fleet of 537 Boeing 737s (-300, 500, -700). Their homogeneous fleet and short stage length makes Southwest a good
airline for comparison. Southwests 86.3M passengers in 2009 equate to 9.75 million
tonnes moved a year. Multiplying this by their average stage length of 1,023 km (635
mi), Southwest flew 9,977 million tonne-kilometers in 2009. Geoengineering represents
3% of the Southwest tonne-kilometers per year and this is the factor used to scale
Southwest costs for comparison.
Geoengineering operations represent only 3% of the tonne-kilometers flown by Southwest Airlines each year. Even the smaller Mesa Air flies over 3 times the tonnekilometers of 1M tonne geoengineering operations. When the comparable airlines operating costs are scaled appropriately, operators spend about $200M each year on fuel,
Page 20

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
crew, and maintenance. This agrees well with the $200-400M operations costs obtained for Geoengineering at commercial aviation altitudes. Costs and scale factors for
the comparables are presented below in Table 2.
Table 2: Comparable commercial airline operations costs. Costs are normalized based on yearly
tonne-kilometers flown per year.
CargoLux
0.70
10895
Alaska
Airlines
1.90
1575
Southwest
9.75
1023
Mesa Air
1.81
621
JetBlue
2.48
1820
7659.0
1.00
2991.6
0.11
9977.3
0.03
1122.3
0.30
4508.1
0.07
Cost Fuel,oil
Cost crew
Cost maint,parts
Cost / Day
$ 2,559,000
$
391,000
$
279,000
Cost / Day
$
356,000
$
151,000
$
46,000
Cost / Day
$
233,000
$
197,000
$
57,000
Cost / Day
$
423,000
$
198,000
$
214,000
Cost / Day
$
275,000
$
94,000
$
26,000
Total Yearly Cost:
$
1,178,485,000
$
201,854,000
$
177,349,000
$
304,935,000
$
143,961,000
Load Carried (mt)

Avg Segment (km)
Millions of ton-km
per year
Scaling Ratio:
* Geoengineering millions of tonne-km per year: 335
4 Overview of Aircraft Design and Selection

Typical commercial aircraft operate at 10.6 km (35kft) to 12.1 km (40kft); advanced subsonic military aircraft routinely operate at 19.8 km (65kft). Above about 19.8 km, heavier than air flight becomes challenging due to the extremely low air density found at altitude. At 19.8 km air density is only 8% of what it is at sea level. Special wing designs,
light weight per unit wing area, and engines capable of sustaining flames in low oxygen
environments are required to achieve high altitude flight.
4.1
Altitude Capability: Aerodynamics
An aircrafts maximum altitude is limited by multiple factors. Operationally, airplane ceiling is defined as the altitude where the airplanes climb rate drops below 100 ft/min.
While this is a very useful metric, for geoengineering absolute ceiling may be more applicable, especially when modifying airplanes to achieve greater altitude.
The primary aerodynamic phenomenon limiting an airplanes ability to continue climbing
are stall and maximum Mach number. Stall is defined as the reduction in lift generated
by a wing as the flow over the top of the wing separates from the wing surface. Stall is
dependent on the speed and the density of the air passing over the wings. As altitude is
Page 21

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
increased and the air gets thinner, the airplane must fly faster to generate enough lift to
counteract the force of gravity without stalling. In other words, the airplanes minimum
speed (stall speed) increases with altitude as air density decreases. Maximum Mach15
number is the maximum speed the airplane can fly at without generating shock waves
as air flow curving around the wings and fuselage locally goes supersonic. If shocks
form, the airplane can become difficult or impossible to control and can be structurally
damaged.
As altitude is increased, the Mach number at which the airplane stalls increases while
the maximum Mach number the airplane can withstand remains constant. The airplane
stall Mach number and maximum Mach number converge at its theoretical maximum
altitude. As this maximum altitude is approached, the acceptable speed range to maintain steady level flight shrinks. This is referred to as coffin corner because flying a little
too fast or too slow can have disastrous consequences.
BestCaseFlightEnvelopefor747400
60
Altitude(kft)
55
50
45
40
35
Stall
Cruise
Mach
30
0.70
0.75
0.80
0.85
MachNumber
Max
Mach
0.90
0.95
1.00
Figure 9: Theoretical Coffin Corner (arrow) for a Boeing 747 is defined as the altitude at which the
stall Mach number (at max weight) and maximum Mach number converge.
4.2
Altitude Capability: Propulsion
As previously mentioned, this study examines an altitude range identified for geoengineering operations from about 19.8 km (60kft) to 30.5 km (100 kft). This is at or above
the upper end of the operational range of most existing airplanes and therefore imposes
15
Mach number is a measure of aircraft speed, defined as the ratio of the aircrafts speed to the local
speed of sound at altitude
Page 22

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
unique constraints upon the design and operation of the dispersal aircraft and its subsystems. In particular, propulsion system performance and operability are very strongly
influenced by its operational altitude. Due to the critical role the propulsion system
plays in aircraft performance, aircraft capability may be limited as a result. This subsection provides a qualitative (and in some cases quantitative) outline of the implications
and limitations of operation in this altitude range on propulsion system design and performance.
4.2.1 Technology Categories
Aurora believes that aircraft propulsion system technology may be grouped in four categories based on maximum operational altitude: 1) up to 13.7 km (45 kft); 2) between
13.7 and 19.8 km (45 and 65 kft); 3) between 19.8 and 24.4 km (65 and 80 kft); 4)
above 24.4 km (80 kft). To extend a systems maximum operational altitude from one
category into the next requires a step change in technology as well as cost. It should be
noted that these altitude limits represent rough estimates of technology transition points
and are meant to serve as guidelines rather than hard limits. A description of the base
technologies assumed for each of the four categories is contained below along with a
detailed analysis of thrust lapse with altitude for several off-the-shelf engines.
KeroseneFuel
Tank
Pump
Combustion
Chamber
High
Pressure
Compressor
Engine
Inlet
Fan
Turbine
Low
Pressure
Turbine
Nozzle
Generator/
Accessories
Figure 10: Simplified schematic of a turbofan engine.
A simplified schematic of a typical turbofan engine is shown in

Figure 10. A key component of a turbofan system is the fan itself which is the primary
thrust producing element of the system. The fan entrains a large mass flow of ambient
air and compresses it slightly (a typical fan pressure ratio is about 1.8) feeding a portion
of the flow to the engine core, but with the majority sent to a nozzle producing thrust.
The bypass ratio defines the ratio of fan mass flow which is routed to the nozzle to that
of the core, and can range from slightly less than one to ten or more depending on the
application. The engine core consists of a compressor, a combustor, and a high pressure turbine run on a single shaft. The low pressure turbine is used to drive the fan itself on a second shaft and is considered part of the engine core. The core flow also
Page 23

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
produces significant jet thrust. Most often the core and bypass flows are mixed in a single nozzle, as shown in
Figure 10, but in some cases may be fed to separate nozzles.
Turbofan Propulsion System (up to 13.7 km, 45 kft)
An off-the-shelf turbofan propulsion system may be used to propel an aircraft intended
to operate at a maximum altitude of 45 kft or less. In terms of technology off-the-shelf
is meant to indicate that an existing turbofan engine would require little to no modification to operate at these altitudes as most of these engines are designed to operate in
this range. These off-the-shelf engines most often run with kerosene-based jet fuels
such as Jet-A. Off the shelf engine development costs are minimal; costs simply include the cost of engines for the prototype aircraft. These costs are modeled using an
engine acquisition cost estimating relationship (CER) based on thrust, turbine inlet temperature, and number of engines purchased.
Modified Turbofan Propulsion System (13.7 to 19.8 km, 45 to 65 kft)
The performance of many turbofan components, specifically the fan, compressor, and
combustor, are very sensitive to operational altitude and may ultimately limit the engines operational ceiling. Fan and compressor pressure ratio and efficiency will decrease due to increased fluid dynamic losses as the pressure and Reynolds number
decreases. More specifically, flow separation at the blades and compressor instabilities, such as surge, may become more prevalent. As combustor temperature and pressure decreases it also becomes more difficult to maintain flame stability as chemical kinetics and vaporization rates slow significantly. As a result, the range of operating fuelto-air mixture ratios at which stable combustion may be achieved narrows, imposing limits on engine throttleability and operating envelope.
To improve performance and extend the altitude ceiling above 45 kft to about 65 kft, existing turbofans may be modified through a combination of component development,
operational modification, and engine testing to characterize performance. For example,
the Rolls-Royce AE3007 engine, which is used on the Embraer 135/140/145 family of
aircraft, is modified (AE3007H) for high altitude operation up to 70 kft in the Global
Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) primarily through the development of a modified
turbine section to increase flow capacity, and a modified Full-Authority Digital Engine
Control (FADEC) system.16 Testing of the modified engine showed that the engine is
capable of operating reliably up to 65 kft with constraints on throttle transients.16 This
example illustrates that it is combustion stability which most often dictates the altitude
limitations of a turbofan engine. Engine development costs in this category are modeled
16
Schelp, T. M., Corea, V. A., and Jeffries, J. K., Development of the RQ-4A Global Hawk Propulsion
System, AIAA Paper 2003-4680, 39th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Huntsville, AL, 20-23 July, 2003.
Page 24

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
by doubling the prototype aircraft engine acquisition CER cost to account for the additional testing and of the engine to verify its operating envelope and combustion stability.
Advanced Turbofan Propulsion System (19.8 to 24.4 km, 65 to 80 kft)

At about 65 kft the pressure in a modified turbofan combustor becomes too low to adequately stabilize a kerosene-based flame. To extend operation to higher altitudes supplemental fuels that provide high kinetic rates in low pressure air, such as pyrophorics
which ignite spontaneously in contact with oxygen, are needed to enhance flame stability. Limited detail exists in the literature regarding the fuels used for this purpose and
the techniques by which they are introduced into the combustor, but it is believed that
such techniques are used on General Electrics F118-GE-101 engine17 used in the U-2
aircraft, which has a stated altitude limit greater than 70 kft.18 Implementation of this
technique would require incorporation of tankage and a delivery system, FADEC modification, advanced combustor development, and extensive test characterization. In addition, modifications to the fan, compressor, or turbine may be required to improve performance at these high altitudes. For example, the fan used on the F118-GE-101 is
modified from the version used on its predecessor, the F110, for high altitude operation.17 Engine development costs in this category are assumed to be $1B plus double
the prototype engine acquisition CER cost. This accounts for cost of any R&D required
to modifying the engine as needed as well as extensive testing verifying the engines
operating envelope. Another consideration for operation at these altitudes is the thermal stability of kerosene-based fuel. Alternative fuel blends may be required to prevent
freezing of the fuel and to maintain fuel stability as it pertains to engine cooling. The
F118-GE-101 runs on a special fuel, called Jet Propellant Thermally Stable (JPTS), to
combat these issues. As a result, fuel costs for operations in this over 65kft are doubled
to account for additional cost of JPTS-type fuels.
Alternative Propulsion System (above 24.4 km, 80 kft)
Above 80kft air density and oxygen concentrations become so low that even the advanced turbofan engines discussed above do not perform adequately. At these altitudes alternative propulsion systems are required such as: a) rocket-based systems that
carry both fuel and oxidizer, which are burned in a combustion chamber and expanded
through a nozzle to produce jet thrust, b) a new turbofan system designed specifically
for high altitudes, i.e. fan, compressor, combustor, etc., and configuration to run on a
highly reactive alternative fuel, or c) a reciprocating engine system which burns a fuel
and oxidizer to drive a piston(s) which produces power to drive a propeller. In the case
17
General Electric F118, Janes Aero-Engines, Issue 22, 2007, pp. 593.
18
U.S. Air Force U-2S/TU-2S Factsheet, http://www.af.mil/information/factsheets/factsheet.asp?id=129,

accessed April 27, 2010.
Page 25

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
of the first two options these could be installed as a secondary propulsion system on the
aircraft and run only above 80 kft or so, while an advanced turbofan system could be
used to propel the vehicle from sea level up to this transitional altitude. Due to the low
air density levels at these high altitudes the inlet area required for a given thrust level at
high altitudes will provide significantly more air flow than is needed for the same thrust
at lower altitudes. Consequently, a smaller engine may be more appropriate for low altitude operation. Aurora has been developing a propulsion concept called the Hydrazine
Decomposition Air Turbine (HDAT) to enable aircraft operation at these high altitudes.19
The concept, shown in Figure 11, decomposes hydrazine in a reactor to hot gaseous
products consisting of hydrogen, nitrogen, and ammonia. These gases may be used to
drive a turbine, which is not shown in Figure 11, but are ultimately sent to a combustor
where the hydrogen is burned with compressed air. The combustion products are then
sent through the turbines to drive the fan and compressor before they are expanded
through a nozzle to produce thrust. Flame stability is maintained in the combustor
through the use of catalytic reactor technology. Preliminary development suggests that
the system could operate reliably up to 100 kft. By utilizing a dual combustor20, the engine could operate on conventional fuel at low altitude and transition to hydrazine at
high altitude. Above 80kft, it is assumed that a radically modified or new design engine
such as the HDAT is required. Development costs are estimated at $2B plus double the
prototype engines acquisition CER cost. Fuel costs are also double due to the use of
JPTS-type or other fuels.
HydrazineFuel
Tank
Pump
Decomposition
Chamber
Combustion
Chamber
High
Pressure
Compressor
Engine
Inlet
Fan
Turbine
Low
Pressure
Turbine
Nozzle
Generator/
Accessories
Figure 11: Schematic of Hydrazine Decomposition Air Turbine (HDAT) engine concept in turbofan
configuration. Such engines could provide thrust at altitudes in excess of 24.4 km (80kft).
19
Sisco, J. C., Hollman, J. S., Kerrebrock, J. L., St. Rock, B. E., Kearney, S. J., and Lents, C. E., Evaluation of Catalytic Reactors for Combustion Stabilization at High Altitudes, AIAA Paper 2010-7061,
46th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit, Nashville, TN, July 25-28, 2010
20
Extended Altitude Combustion System Non-provisional patent application 12/556,202
Page 26

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
4.2.2 Thrust Lapse

A typical turbofan engine maintains a fixed inlet area throughout its operational
envelope. For this reason, as altitude increases and air density decreases the mass
flow rate of air entering into the engine, and consequently its thrust, will decrease. This
phenomenon is well known and is commonly referred to as thrust lapse. Along with
general aircraft aerodynamic performance, thrust lapse is a primary contributor to defining the altitude limit of a particular aircraft. A turbofan thermodynamic model is used to
quantify the thrust lapse of several aircraft engines being considered as part of this
study and is used to guide aircraft analysis and design. To simplify the analysis engine
performance parameters found in the open literature are assumed to be constant
throughout the evaluated altitude range. As discussed above this is not the case, but
detailed engine performance numbers are not available.
Three engines are considered as part of this analysis: 1) the General Electric F118-GE101 used on the Lockheed U-2 ultra-high altitude surveillance aircraft, 2) the RollsRoyce BR725 turbofan which is planned for use in the Gulfstream G550/650 ultra-long
range business jet, 3) the Pratt & Whitney PW2040 used in the Boeing 757 civilian
transport and C-17 Globemaster III military transport planes, and 4) the Rolls-Royce
Trent 900 engine which is the lead engine for the Airbus A380 civilian transport aircraft.
The assumed performance specifications for each engine are shown in Table 3; these
engines represent a wide range of sizes and bypass ratios.
Table 3: Engine performance parameters assumed in thrust lapse analysis. Asterisk (*) indicates
values which have been assumed based on best engineering judgment or unverified sources.
Engine
F118-GE-10121
RR BR72522
PW 204023
RR Trent 90024
Fan Diameter (in)
47
50
78.5
116
Bypass Ratio
0.9*
4.4
6.0
8.5
Overall Pressure Ratio
27
36*
31.2
39
Fan Pressure Ratio
1.8*
1.8*
1.74
1.8*
Fan Efficiency (%)
87*
87*
87*
87*
Compressor Efficiency (%)
90*
90*
90*
90*
21
GE Aviation Turbofan Comparison Chart,

http://www.geae.com/engines/military/comparison_turbofan.html, accessed April 28, 2010.
22
Rolls-Royce BR725 Factsheet, http://www.rolls-royce.com/Images/BR725_tcm92-5748.pdf, accessed

April 28, 2010.
23
Pratt & Whitney PW2000 Site, http://www.pw.utc.com/Products/Commercial/PW2000, accessed April

28, 2010.
24
Rolls-Royce Trent 900 Factsheet, http://www.rolls-royce.com/Images/brochure_Trent900_tcm9211346.pdf, accessed April 28, 2010.
Page 27

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Turbine Efficiency (%)
88*
88*
88*
88*
Turbine Inlet Temperature (F)
2,200*
1,700*
2,200*
2,200*
Sea Level Max Thrust (lbf)
17,000
17,000
43,734
76,500
Engine Weight (lbf)
3,150
4,912*
7,160*
14,190
A plot of maximum thrust versus altitude for the four engines listed in Table 3 is shown
in Figure 12 from 45 to 85 kft. A flight speed of 0.85 Mach is assumed for each engine.
It should be noted that for those engines missing data points above a certain altitude,
for instance the BR725 above 67 kft, indicates that turbine exhaust gases are over expanded and that the cycle does not close at the assumed engine pressure ratio. These
thrust estimates represent absolute best case levels as decreases in component performance with altitude will tend to drop thrust further than is indicated here. The magnitude of the thrust lapse over this altitude range is dependent upon the size of the engine, but the relative thrust levels between any two altitude points is independent of the
engine size. For instance, the thrust produced by each engine at 60 kft is about 50% of
that produced at 45 kft. This indicates how strongly altitude effects engine thrust production and aircraft altitude limits. It is likely that to extend the altitude capability of a
notional aircraft, oversized or additional engine(s) may be required to counteract these
thrust lapse effects.
14000
F118-GE-101
BR725
PW2040
Trent 900
Max Throttle Thrust (lbf)
12000
10000
8000
6000
4000
2000
40
50
60
Altitude (kft)
70
80
Figure 12: Thrust variation with altitude for four turbofan engines: 1) General Electric F118-GE101, 2) Rolls-Royce BR725, 3) Pratt & Whitney PW2040, and 4) Rolls-Royce Trent 900. Flight
speed of 0.85 assumed for each engine.
Page 28

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
4.2.3 Sulfuric Acid Impact on Aircraft

If sulfuric acid is chosen as the particulate material, there is a high likelihood that the
through the process of dispersing sulfuric acid into the atmosphere that the dispersing
aircraft and its turbofan engines will be subjected to relatively high concentrations of sulfuric acid vapor/aerosols. This could have negative effects on engine performance,
component lifetimes, and maintenance costs. A mostly qualitative summary of the potential effects that sulfuric acid may have on aircraft and engine components is presented in what follows.
As a brief aside, it should be noted that a large amount of data concerning the effects of
volcanic ash on engine performance was compiled following the Mt. Pinatubo eruption
in 1991.25 Ash particles, which are essentially very small pieces of rock, are found to
degrade turbofan performance through: 1) abrasion of the forward facing surfaces such
as fan and compressor blades which in some cases altered blade flow significantly
enough to produce a surge instability in the compressor, and 2) deposition of molten
ash on fuel nozzles, nozzle guide vanes, or turbine blades following heating past melting in the combustor. This molten ash was found to cool and solidify on engine components and in many cases blocked fuel nozzle flow and turbine blade cooling flow. In
some cases, this blockage triggered engine overheating and/or shutdown.
Specific studies targeting the effects of sulfuric acid on turbofan engines are rarer. A
1990 study details the effects of prolonged exposure to sulfuric acid on aircraft acrylic
windshields, which results in accelerated crazing of the acrylic.26 Aircraft exterior polyurethane paint also tends to fade more rapidly when exposed to sulfuric acid.25 Sulfuric
acid vapor and aerosols are more benign than volcanic ash in terms of impact damage
to forward facing surfaces, but prolonged exposure of fan and compressor blades to sulfuric acid may result in material degradation. Typically fan and compressor blades are
manufactured from titanium alloys although some modern fan designs incorporate composite construction. Engine seals, wiring, and hoses may also be susceptible to damage from prolonged exposure to sulfuric acid.
Sulfuric acid will be chemically transformed at the high temperatures present in a gas
turbine combustor likely producing sulfur oxides such as sulfur dioxide, SO2, and sulfur
trioxide, SO3. These sulfur oxides may be further altered at these high temperatures
and deposit on turbines blades in the form of sulfate minerals, such as gypsum or anhydrite. These effects have been observed in the longer term following volcanic eruptions
25
Casadevall, T. J., De los Reyes, P. J., and Schneider, D. J., The 1991 Pinatubo Eruptions and Their
Effects on Aircraft Operations, Fire and Mud: Eruptions and Lahars of Mount Pinatubo, Philippines,
Edited by Newhall, C. G., and Punongbayan, R. S., Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology,
Quezon City, Philippines and University of Washington Press, Seattle and London, 1996, pp 1126.
26
Bernard, A., and Rose, Jr., W. I., The Injection of Sulfuric Acid Aerosols in the Stratosphere by the El
Chichon Volcano and its Related Hazards to the International Air Traffic, Natural Hazards, Vol. 3,
1990, pp. 56-67.
Page 29

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
after the volcanic ash has largely settled out of the atmosphere.25 It should also be
noted that most aviation fuels contain some sulfur content, which is regulated to less
than 0.3% by mass and is in practice often less than 0.07% by mass.27 This limit is in
place due to concerns over the effects of sulfur oxides on downstream engine components, specifically turbine blades which are manufactured from nickel superalloys. An
oxide coating is typically applied over the base turbine blade material to protect it from
the high temperature, oxidizing environment present in the turbine. Sulfur and sulfurbased molecules are known to attack these coatings leading to corrosion as the base
blade material is directly exposed to the turbine environment.
Ingestion of sulfuric acid into the engine will increase the amount of sulfur oxides produced by the combustor and subsequently increase the susceptibility of critical engine
components to sulfur related degradation. The established limit on aviation fuel sulfur
content (0.3% by mass) is used to facilitate a first cut estimate of the limit on sulfuric acid ingestion by the engine. The total mass of sulfur exiting a notional combustor is estimated assuming that jet fuel with 0.07% sulfur by mass is burned with ambient air containing varying levels of sulfuric acid, H2SO4, in the parts per million range (volume %).
It is assumed that the fuel and air are mixed at a fuel-to-air mass ratio of 0.035, which is
typical for modern gas turbine systems. The total air flow to the engine is adjusted
based on the H2SO4 content assuming a fixed engine inlet area and flight speed. Results of the computation suggest that 0.3% by mass sulfur content is reached when atmospheric air contains approximately 70 ppm H2SO4, as shown in Table 4. Concentrations expected at altitude during geoengineering operations are on the order of 0.01
ppm and pale in comparison to sulfate levels experienced by aircraft landing in polluted
regions such as Mexico City or Shanghai.
Table 4: Variation in total sulfur mass exiting turbofan combustor with sulfuric acid levels in air.
Sulfuric Acid in Air (ppm)
Total Mass Sulfur/Mass Fuel (%)
0.07
20
0.14
40
0.20
60
0.27
80
0.33
100
0.40
This is an approximate estimate of allowable sulfuric acid ingestion limits. Prolonged

operation of the engine in environments exceeding this level will likely lead to accelerated deterioration of turbine blades and other components exposed to the combustor
exhaust gases. In addition, operation as these levels will likely necessitate more fre-
27
CRC Report No. 635, Handbook of Aviation Fuel Properties, Third Edition, 2004.
Page 30

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
quent engine inspection, maintenance, and potentially overhaul/replacement. It is recommended that the aircraft be operated in environments with significantly lower sulfuric
acid content to avoid the increased costs associated with these maintenance activities.
4.2.4 Thrust Augmentation via Sulfuric Acid Injection
In the early stages of turbojet engine development water injection was evaluated as a
method to provide thrust augmentation for takeoff and high Mach operation.28,29,30 In
these systems water is injected at the inlet of the compressor and produces increased
thrust by: 1) increasing the overall mass flow through the engine, and 2) increasing the
overall pressure ratio of the engine.28,29 Pressure ratio gains are brought about not only
due to the increased mass flow through the compressor, but also the waters ability to
cool the air, especially when the water is heated to saturation levels. This intercooling
effect acts to reduce compressor input power requirements, or alternatively increases
compressor specific speed assuming constant shaft speed, resulting in an increased
compressor pressure ratio.28,29 To combat the potential of the water freezing in operation at altitude or in cold weather alcohol-water mixtures are evaluated for use in practical systems. Augmented thrust ratios of about 1.2 are achieved in operation at wateralcohol to air ratios of approximately 0.1.30 Although the approach is capable of providing significant thrust increases it was replaced in favor of the thrust augmentation approach commonly used today whereby additional fuel is burned in the oxygen rich turbine exhaust gases (afterburning). By this approach similar thrust increases may be
achieved with less injected flow (due to the fuels high heat of reaction) and with less
mass of additional hardware and tankage.28 In addition, the compressor stability and
compressor-turbine matching problems which arise when injecting water are eliminated
in the modern afterburning approach.
In the case of the present system, a significant quantity of sulfuric acid will be stored on
the aircraft and ejected into the atmosphere during flight. This liquid could be injected
into the engine to provide additional thrust at high altitudes to combat thrust lapse. As
discussed in the previous section elevated sulfur content is detrimental to engine component life, and consequently traditional liquid injection techniques (compressor inlet
injection) would not be appropriate for this system. However, some thrust augmentation
may be realizable by injecting the sulfuric acid downstream of the turbine, in a manner
similar to a modern afterburner. By this approach, to achieve thrust increases the turbine exhaust gases must be hot enough to vaporize the sulfuric acid. However, poten-
28
Hall, E. W., and Wilcox, E. C., Theoretical Comparison of Several Methods of Thrust Augmentation
for Turbojet Engines, NACA Technical Report 992, October 1948.
29
Lundin, B. T., Theoretical Analysis of Various Thrust-Augmentation Cycles for Turbojet Engines,
NACA Technical Note 2083, May 1950.
30
Povolny, J. H., Useller, J. W., and Chelko, L. J., Experimental Investigation of Thrust Augmentation
of 4000-Pound-Thrust Axial-Flow-Type Turbojet Engine by Interstage Injection of Water-Alcohol Mixtures in Compressor, NACA Research Memorandum E9K30, April 1950.
Page 31

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
tial thrust increases provided by elevated nozzle mass flow will be counteracted by the
attendant decrease in total temperature associated with liquid vaporization and heating.
To evaluate potential thrust increases due to sulfuric acid injection the turbofan analysis
model was modified to analyze the effects of liquid injection downstream of the turbine.
A zero dimensional energy balance approach is employed whereby turbine exhaust gas
and injected sulfuric acid where assumed to mix completely in an arbitrarily large control
volume, i.e. neglecting fluid/energy transport times. The temperature of the gas mixture
exiting the control volume is evaluated based on fluid inlet enthalpies including sulfuric
acid heat of vaporization (511 kJ/kg) and fluid heat capacity data. Figure 13 shows the
thrust augmentation possible with sulfuric acid injection downstream of the turbine for a
PW2040 engine operating at 13.7 km (45 kft). At a sulfuric acid to air mass ratio of
0.086, or a sulfuric acid injection rate of 17 kg/s (37.5 lbm/s), a maximum thrust level of
about 35.5 kN (7,946 lbf) is achievable, which is about 1.08 times the engines base
thrust (32.8 kN; 7,370 lbf) at this altitude. At mass ratio greater than this the sulfuric acid only partially vaporizes, and the thrust decreases from the maximum value as a result. It should be noted that the behavior of this plot is highly dependent upon the properties of the injected liquid, particularly its heat of vaporization. For instance, if the liquid
is assumed to be water (heat of vaporization = 2258 kJ/kg) the augmented thrust is actually lower than the base thrust for all injected mass flow levels. This is because the
drop in gas temperature which results from fully vaporizing the water detracts from the
benefit of added mass flow.
As previously mentioned the sulfuric acid release rate range being considered for this
study is between 0.003 and 0.1 kg/m. At 13.7 km (45 kft) and a flight Mach number of
0.85 that equates to a sulfuric acid injection mass flow rate range between about 0.73
and 24.9 kg/s. For the PW2040 engine the peak thrust achieved via sulfuric acid injection actually occurs at 17 kg/s per engine (or 0.07 kg/m release rate) which is just over
the specified range for a dual engine aircraft. Prior analysis suggests that between
12.2-15.2 km (40-50 kft) the thrust lapse associated with the PW2040 engine is about
4.3 kN/km (300 lbf/kft). Assuming that the engine is installed on a notional aircraft that
requires 32.8 kN (7,370 lbf) thrust for steady level flight at 13.7 km (45 kft), and that the
1.08 thrust augmentation ratio is constant with altitude this analysis suggests that sulfuric acid injection could be used to maintain this thrust level up to 14.3 km (47 kft), thereby extending the aircrafts altitude capability by 610 m (2,000 ft).
While the sulfuric acid injection technique described above does provide some extended altitude capability, it does not appear to provide a substantial enough benefit to
warrant its implementation in a turbofan engine for that purpose. However, injection of
the sulfuric acid into the exhaust in this way may represent an efficient method by which
to disperse it into the atmosphere. This analysis suggests that even at the maximum
sulfuric acid release rate under consideration (24.9 kg/s) the thrust level produced by
the engine is not adversely affected (1.05 thrust ratio).
Page 32

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
1.1
Augmented/Base Thrust Ratio
1.09
1.08
1.07
1.06
1.05
1.04
1.03
1.02
1.01
1
0.05
0.1
H2SO4/Air Mass Ratio
0.15
0.2
Figure 13: Thrust augmentation possible with sulfuric acid injection aft of turbine for PW2040 engine operating a 13.7 km (45 kft). At H2SO4/Air mass ratios greater than 0.086 sulfuric acid does
not fully vaporize.
5 Analysis of Existing Aircraft and Results

5.1
Assumptions specific to analysis of existing aircraft
Analysis of existing aircraft focused on estimating the cost of acquiring and operating
new or used aircraft. If fleet size represents a large portion of an aircrafts total production, new aircraft price is used to calculate acquisition costs; otherwise a survey of the
used market provided typical used acquisition costs. Costs of conversion of existing
aircraft for the geoengineering mission are estimated based on costs of converting passenger aircraft to cargo aircraft. For modified versions of existing aircraft, costs of additional engines are included. A summary of acquisition and modification costs is included in Table 5.
Page 33

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Table 5: Acquisition and modification costs used in analysis of existing aircraft costs.
Boeing
Boeing
Gulfstream
Gulfstream
Gulfstream
C-37A
(New)
C-37A
(Modified)
Boeing
Rockwell
C-17
B-1B
747-400
F-15
C-37A
(Used)
FY10
Acquisition
Cost:
$28,000,000
$50,000,00
0
$22,750,00
0
$59,900,00
0
$54,900,00
0
$240,000,00
0
$300,000,00
0
Notes:
1999 B74740031
Estimated
1997 G-V
with 5672
total time32
New Airframe Cost
$5M credit
for selling
OEM engines.
New cost
New cost
FY10
Modification Cost:
$30,459,000
$5,000,000
$10,000,00
0
$10,000,00
0
$20,000,00
0
$50,320,000
$10,000,000
Notes:
USAF Civil
Reserve
Fleet passenger jet to
cargo conversion
cost(convert
ed from
1983 $) 33
Custom
drop tanks
with dispenser
Tank installation, dispensers,

possible
fuel tank
modification to carry
payload
Tank installation, dispensers,

possible
fuel tank
payload
New Engines. Tank

installation,
dispensers,
possible
fuel tank
payload
Four $11.3M
engines plus
$5M for integration.
$10M For
integration
of tanks,
sprayers,
etc.
It should be noted that used aircraft will require more maintenance than a new aircraft.
As the aircraft ages, the maintenance burden will increase until the aircrafts usable life
has been reached or the economics of keeping the aircraft in service are no longer viable. For this reason, used aircraft may need more frequent replacement than new aircraft placing upward pressure on yearly total costs.
5.2
Choice of Platforms
To limit scope to a manageable number of platforms, five airplane types are down selected and a single aircraft from each type was analyzed in detail. These types allow
cost estimates to be extended to a large number of airplanes. For example, while a
Gulfstream G550/650 is used to analyze large business jet costs in detail, the cost
31
1999 Boeing 747-400 Aircraft for sale on http://www.aviatorsale.com :

http://www.aviatorsale.com/aix6882/
32
1997 Gulfstream G-V for sale on http://www.aviatorsale.com:

http://www.aviatorsale.com/aix7303/
33
Determining the Boeing 747 Conversion Costs for the Civil Reserve Air Fleet Enhancement Program
http://oai.dtic.mil/oai/oai?verb=getRecord&metadataPrefix=html&identifier=ADA134446 Accessed
1/15/2010.
Page 34

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
numbers are also representative of most aircraft in this class such as the Dassault Falcon 900 or Bombardier Global 5000.
Type
Representative
Airplane
Properties
Availability
Large Cargo
Aircraft
Boeing 747
(-200)
Large cargo capacity

Long range
Efficient
Dozens available
used, approx. 600
built
High Performance Airlifter
Boeing C-17

Short range
High lift wing
Available new
while production
line remains open
Supersonic
Bomber
Rockwell B-1B

Long range
High altitude
Sensitive technology
Probably not
available, 100 built
(Russian Tu-160
Blackjacks may be
available, 35 built)
Business Jet
Gulfstream
G550/650
(C-37A)

OR fuel capacity
Well suited to high
altitude
Available used
and new, approx.
190 built
High Performance Zoom

Climber
MacDonnell
Douglas F-15
Large Payload
Fast time-to-climb
High Altitude
High maintenance
and fuel costs
Questionable
availability, approx. 1200 built.
Numerous similar
in storage
5.3
Cost Estimates
5.3.1 Large Cargo Type

Large passenger and cargo transport airplanes are well suited to geoengineering due to
their size and affordability but provide limited usefulness due to a lack of high-altitude
capability. Regional operations allow the Boeing 747 to operate from 1 or more bases
and carry a large payload of 128,000 kg (less than max capacity to allow for better performance at max altitude) per sortie, requiring 47 sorties per day from the fleet. At a release rate of 0.03 kg/m flown, mission lengths are short enough to allow a fleet of 14
747s to execute the 47 sorties a day. By limiting leg length to the 1,600 km required to
Page 35

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
hit the preferred dispersal rate, fuel burn is kept to 0.016 kg/m per aircraft. Altitude is
limited to 13.7 km (45kft). Costs are as follows:
Aircraft Acquisition Cost: $0.8 Billion FY10 USD
Yearly Operations cost: $1.0 Billion FY10 USD
Yearly Total Cost (including depreciation and interest): $1.1 Billion FY10
USD
5.3.2 High Performance Airlifter Type
The high performance airlifter type in stock configuration is similar to the large cargo
type, so it is only analyzed with modifications to extend its maximum altitude. Details
are discussed in section 5.4.2.
5.3.3 Supersonic Dispersal (Supersonic Bomber Type)
Supersonic high altitude bombers are examined for completeness, though there are
significant challenges associated with employing this type of aircraft for geoengineering.
While their high speed makes them ideal for transit CONOPs and they have large payloads, issues include creating sonic booms over land, appearing as an aggressor when
entering airspace, and the expense and sensitivity of their technology.
The Rockwell B-1B has an altitude capability in excess of 18.3 km (60kft). When operating from 4 bases and flying transit legs between the bases, payload is 60,000 kg. A
fleet of 28 aircraft are required, conducting 45 sorties a day. Release rates, driven
down by the leg length between bases, are 0.01 kg/m flown. Fuel burn is 0.0025 kg/m
flown. The availability of this type of aircraft is questionable. While 100 B-1s were built;
it is not likely the US Government would sell them. Russian Tu-160 may be available
for purchase, or potentially either aircraft could be put back into limited production. With
no second hand market, the new aircraft cost is used for acquisition cost estimates.
Costs are high:
New Aircraft Acquisition Cost: $8.7 Billion FY10 USD
USD
5.3.4 Business Jet Type
Business jets are designed for higher altitude flight above commercial aircraft traffic but
are expensive to purchase and operate. Their large fuel capacity for long range flight
allows them to carry large volumes of geoengineering payload when flying short duration missions. The Gulfstream G550/650 can operate regionally from 1 or more bases
and carry 16,300 kg of payload per sortie, requiring 168 sorties per day. At a release
rate of 0.04 kg/m flown, mission duration is short requiring a fleet of 66 aircraft. BusiPage 36

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
ness jets are efficient, fuel burn is 0.0014 kg/m flown. Altitude is limited to 15.5 km
(51kft). Costs are as follows:
USD
5.3.5 High performance Zoom Climber Type
Large numbers of small, high-performance interceptor aircraft have been built and are in
service around the world. Many U.S. aircraft are in storage at Davis-Montham Air Force
Base but the availability and flight-readiness of these airframes is unknown. Still, with
many older aircraft being sold to other nations and new aircraft constantly coming online
to replace old ones, the availability of aircraft such as the F-15, F-4, F-111, and F-14s is
good. The Boeing F-15 has an altitude capability estimated at 25.9 km (85k ft) in a
zoom climb. Carrying a payload of 4,000 kg and minimal fuel load to reduce weight,
671 sorties per day are required. Due to the high performance of this aircraft type the
entire sortie takes only 23 minutes requiring a fleet of 133 aircraft. At altitude, a 3
minute supersonic cruise leg allows the F-15 to deploy the particulate at a rate of 0.037
kg/m flown. Climb performance requires the use of afterburners so fuel burn is 0.025
kg/m flown. Cost of a used high performance interceptor is difficult to determine, a value of $55M per aircraft is used in cost calculations. These aircraft are also maintenance
intensive. Costs are as follows:
Used Aircraft Acquisition Cost: $7 Billion FY10 USD
Yearly Total Cost (including dep. and int.): $8.4 Billion FY10 USD
5.4
Modifications to Existing Aircraft

Figure 14: Mach number capability
for the Gulfstream G550/650. The
typical cruise condition of Mach 0.8
at 40,000 ft is shown by the blue
circle. Aerodynamically, altitude
can be increased to 60,000 ft.
As discussed in section 4.2,

propulsion for high altitude aircraft is a challenge. While most
aircraft surveyed have aerodynamic capability for additional
altitude, thrust lapse of their
engines limits the thrust availa-
Page 37

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
ble to them at higher altitudes preventing them from flying higher.

5.4.1 BizJet Class
The Gulfstream G550/650 is
designed for fast flight, close
to the speed of sound, at altitudes of up to 15.5 km
(51kft). As shown in Figure
14 the G550/650s coffin
corner is at about 19.8 km
(65kft). Operating at this altitude requires the aircraft to
fly at a high lift coefficient to
generate enough lift to sustain altitude. This causes
the aircraft to be less efficient due to increased induced drag requiring more
thrust.
Figure 15: The Gulfstream G550/650s two Rolls-Royce BR725 engines produce the 2,500 lb of
thrust each required to maintain speed at 40,000 ft. When altitude is increased to 60,000 ft over
3,100 lb thrust is required to maintain speed (the aircraft is less efficient aerodynamically at this
altitude). The BR725s produce only 1,000 lb thrust at 60,000 due to thrust lapse.
The thrust available from the G550/650s Rolls-Royce BR725 engines at 12.1 km (40kft)
is about 20% of the sea level thrust of the engines. As altitude is increased thrust laps
reduces the available thrust from the BR725s to <10% of the sea level thrust (Figure
15). Thus significantly larger or more powerful engines are required. Table 6 illustrates
the propulsion requirements at several operating points.
Table 6: Gulfstream G550/650 re-engining comparison
Gulfstream
Gulfstream
Initial Cruise (41kft)
Final Cruise (51kft)
Extended Altitude
(60kft)
Lift Coefficient
0.44
0.47
1.25
Drag Coefficient
0.024
0.026
0.08
L/D
18.4
18.4
14
Thrust Required (lb)
4,800
3,200
6200
Available Thrust (lb)
5,000
3,400
2000
A large high bypass ratio turbo fan engine is one possible choice for re-engining of the
G550/650 (see Table 7). The efficiency of a high bypass engine, such as the Pratt &
Whitney PW2040 used on the C-17 and Boeing 757) makes it desirable from a fuel burn
Page 38

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
stand point, but its large diameter and weight make the feasibility of this option questionable. It is more desirable to choose a low bypass engine that exhibits less thrust
lapse with altitude. A survey of potential engines was conducted and no low bypass
engines produced enough thrust at altitude without the use of an afterburner. While the
selected Pratt & Whitney F100 is similar in weight to the original BR725, the high fuel
consumption of the afterburning engine reduces payload of the G550/650.
Table 7: Potential re-engining options for the Gulfstream G550/650
The G550/650 fitted with F100 engines can deliver 13,600 kg of payload to 18.2 km
(60kft). A total of 43 aircraft are required to operate 200 sorties per day. A release rate
of 0.034 kg/m flown is achieved while fuel burn is 0.004 kg/m flown, almost 4 times that
of the original G550/650. Costs, including cost of new engines, are as follows:
5.4.2 High Performance Airlifter Type
Military airlifters appear to be promising geoengineering aircraft due to their large cargo
capacity and high lift aerodynamics designed to allow them to takeoff from short run-
Page 39

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
ways. Analysis of the Boeing C-17 showed that altitude capability is limited by engine
thrust (
Figure 16) which drops by 50% as altitude is increased from 13.7 km (45kft) to 18.2 km
(60kft).
Figure 16: The Boeing C-17 requires

about 7,500 lb of thrust from each
engine at cruise. When increasing
altitude (along black dashed line) to
60,000 ft, thrust available from each
PW2040 engine drops to 3,500 lbs
(blue circle). A doubling of available thrust (green circle) is required
to maintain altitude at 60,000 ft.
Adding four more engines, notionally PW2040s or a lower bypass engine, provides the C-17
with enough thrust to achieve an
altitude of 18.2 km (60kft). Operating regionally on short duration missions, payload is 45,000 kg requiring 60 sorties
per day performed by a fleet of 24 aircraft. The short range of the C-17 combined with
the additional fuel consumption of the 8-engine drives release rates to 0.06 kg/m flown,
while fuel burn is 0.025 kg/m flown. Costs, including acquisition and integration costs of
additional engines are:
New Aircraft Acquisition Cost: $7.0 B
Yearly Operations cost: $2.8 Billion
5.5
Conclusions
Existing Systems are optimized to transport a payload quickly and efficiency over a long
distance. They are not optimized for high altitude flight and therefore are poorly suited
to the geoengineering mission. Operating existing aircraft at their ceiling, or beyond
with expensive modifications, requires lightly loading them driving fleet size up. The
small zoom climber type does have high altitude capability, but its size drives fleet size
well over 100 aircraft and their fuel consumption makes operations costs the highest of
all airplane options examined. Supersonic bomber aircraft provides the payload and
altitude capability required for geoengineering but the feasibility of acquiring and operating them is questionable and costs are high.
Page 40

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Costs grow rapidly as altitude is increased. The yearly cost (including operations, depreciation, and interest) of regional CONOPs increases by $0.85B for every 1.5 km
(5,000 ft) increase in altitude (Figure 17). This means moving from the 12.1 km (40kft)
operating altitude of most commercial airliners, to 19.8 km (65kft) represents an increase in yearly cost of $4.25B.
YearlyTotalCostvsAltitude(ExistingSystems)
YearlyTotalCost($Billions)
$12
$10
F-15
$8
y=0.17x 6.3
y=0.0055x+5.10
$6
C-17
C-37A
B-1B
747
$4
C-17(Mod.)
C-37A (Mod.)
C-37A
$2
747
$0
40
50
60
TransitDistribution
RegionalDistribution
70
80
Altitude(kft)
90
100
Figure 17: Plot of yearly total cost (operations, depreciation, and interest) for the existing aircraft
systems examined.
A summary of all the existing systems examined is included below in Table 8:

Table 8: Summary of Fleet, Operations, and Yearly costs for all existing systems
Description
Altitude
(kft)
Development
and Acquisition Costs
($B)
Total Ops
Cost ($B)
Yearly Total
Cost (Including Dep. and
Int.)
Dispersion
Boeing 747-400 Class
45
$0.82
$1.00
$1.13
Regional
Gulfstream C-37A Class
45
$2.16
$2.15
$2.50
Regional
Modified Gulfstream C-37A
60
$3.23
$2.37
$2.89
Regional
Modified Boeing C-17
60
$6.97
$2.79
$3.91
Regional
Boeing F-15 Class
85
$7.32
$7.60
$8.77
Regional
747-400 Class
45
$2.81
$4.49
$4.94
Transit
Gulfstream C-37A Class

Class
Rockwell B-1B
45
$8.39
$4.28
$5.63
Transit
60
$7.77
$4.71
$5.96
Transit
65
$8.68
$3.68
$5.07
Transit
The cost breakdown for the various systems varied depending on the type. For most
types, personnel costs dominated operations costs. The high maintenance zoom
Page 41

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
climber support personnel costs are almost 50% of operations costs. The large cargo
transports high gross weight drives flight crew costs up, accounting for 35% of operations costs. The high fly-away cost of the Gulfstream G550/650 drives up the price of
spare parts, causing them to account for 30% of operations costs. The breakdown of
costs for each system is included below in Table 9.
Table 9: Breakdown of yearly operations an, depreciation, and itnerest costs
Description
Boeing 747-400 Class,

Regional
Gulfstream C-37A Class,
Regional
Modified Gulfstream C-37A,
Regional
Modified Boeing C-17,
Regional
Boeing F-15 Class,
Regional
747-400 Class,
Transit
Gulfstream C-37A Class,
Transit
Class, Transit
Rockwell B-1B,
Transit
Total
Yearly
Ops
Cost
($B)
Depreciation
and Interest
Cost ($B)
Yearly Total
Cost (Including Dep. and
Int.) ($B)
Support
Personnel
Costs ($B)
Fuel
Costs
($B)
Spares
Cost
($B)
Flight
Crew
Costs
($B)
$0.19
$0.40
$0.28
$0.18
$1.00
$0.13
$1.13
$0.56
$0.19
$0.73
$0.95
$2.15
$0.35
$2.50
$0.21
$0.10
$0.80
$1.04
$2.37
$0.52
$2.89
$0.34
$0.91
$1.38
$0.23
$2.79
$1.12
$3.91
$4.57
$1.07
$1.04
$1.66
$7.60
$1.18
$8.77
$0.79
$2.16
$1.41
$0.18
$4.49
$0.45
$4.94
$1.14
$0.54
$1.91
$0.96
$4.28
$1.35
$5.63
$0.44
$0.27
$2.10
$1.06
$4.71
$1.25
$5.96
$0.43
$0.37
$2.75
$0.17
$3.68
$1.40
$5.07
Existing aircraft offer a cost-effective way to begin a geoengineering campaign for minimal upfront costs, but there are trade-offs to employing used aircraft. The aging aircraft require increasing maintenance, driving up operations costs the longer they remain
in service. It is unlikely a used aircraft will be safe and economical to operate for a 20year geoengineering effort. The cost impact of more frequent aircraft replacement is
shown in Figure 18 below.
Page 42

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
B747TotalYearlyCost(IncludingDepreciation,
Interest)
TotalYearlyCost
($Billions)
$3.00
$2.50
$2.00
$1.50
$1.00
$0.50
$0.00
5
10
15
20
Yearsbetweenaircraftreplacement
25
Figure 18: Used aircraft may have diminished useful life remaining. The impact of more frequent
aircraft replacement on total yearly cost is shown above.
6 New Aircraft Design

The analysis of new aircraft designs for the geoengineering mission was an in depth
look at what design would be the most affordable for geoengineering operations. Typically an aircraft is designed for a particular mission, and is optimized for a primary operating point, such as cruise for a commercial transport. Dozens of aircraft design parameters are fine tuned to optimize the aircraft for the mission. These translate to an infinite spectrum of aircraft designs for a given operating point, each with specific RDT&E,
acquisition, and operations costs. These design parameters are interdependent and
must be carefully balanced to obtain a design that closes and fulfils the mission.
To examine the design spectrum for geoengineering, Aurora Flight Sciences utilized an
in-house aircraft design and sizing code originally developed to look at high efficiency
transport aircraft. This code was integrated with the CERs presented in section 3.1 and
driven by a parametric analysis software package called iSight (Figure 19).
Page 43

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Figure 19: iSight Optimizer design, including a top level Altitude Loop with a nested Design Of
Experiments block (DOE) to vary aircraft input parameters. The specific mission, based on payload and release rate is determined by a Matlab Range Definition script which feeds the mission
profile into an Aircraft Optimizer. The optimizer fine tunes the aircraft to find a closed design,
then passes inputs to an Excel based Cost Analysis tool.
A top level loop in iSight steps through 6 altitudes, calling a Design of Experiment
(DOE) that steps through 32 combinations of airplane payload, propulsion type, and
number of engines. The range of each input is included below (Table 10).
Table 10: Exploration variable inputs to iSight DOE

Exploration Variable
Lower Limit
Upper Limit
Altitude
40,000 ft
100,000 ft
Payload
10,000 kg
100,000 kg
Number of Engines
Propulsion System
Propeller
Turbofan
A Matlab script is used to determine the mission profile for each set of inputs. Cruise
altitude dictated time-to-climb and time-to-descend. Payload mass dictated range
based on the requirement to release payload at 0.03 kg/m flown. With the mission defined, the aircraft optimizer utilized a genetic algorithm to design a spectrum of aircraft
for each combination of inputs. A total of 1,200 designs are examined for each altitude
and combination of inputs. Parameters including wingspan, wing aspect-ratio, wing
Page 44

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
thickness, wing sweep, thrust-to-weight ratio, fuel fraction, payload fraction, cruise
speed are varied. This translates to a design space of over 230,400 individual aircraft
designs (6x32x1200). This analysis was run for 3 yearly up-masses, 1M tonnes, 3M
tonnes, and 5M tonnes. Designs that violated the range requirements or lacked the
excess power to climb to altitude in a reasonable amount of time are discarded. A total
of over 300 airplane configurations successfully closed and completed the mission at
various altitudes for varying costs. These airplane configurations are then ranked by
cost.
6.1
New Aircraft Assumptions
The analysis of new aircraft platforms assumed a 20-year aircraft design life, consisting
of approximately 7,000 flight hours per year or about 2,000 cycles. This is comparable
to a Boeing 737 with a design life of about 150,000 hours and 75,000 cycles. Aircraft
designs are optimized by depreciating acquisition costs over this 20-year life.
6.2
Uncertainty Analysis
An uncertainty analysis was performed on aircraft costs estimates. The following

ranges of uncertainty are established for the inputs to the CERs. These uncertainties
are based on engineering judgment and historic trends for aircraft cost prediction in the
conceptual design phase.
Table 11: Acquisition/RDT&E uncertainties (top) and operations uncertainties (bottom)
Uncertainty in CER Inputs (Acquisition)
Wempty
+/-
10%
Vmax (fps)
+/-
20
Mmax
+/-
0.05
Turbine Inlet Temp (deg R)
+/-
100
Thrust (lb)
+/-
1000
Number Produced
+/-
10%
Uncertainty in CER Inputs (Operations)

Block Time (min)
+/-
40
Takeoff Weight
+/-
10%
Fuel Cost ($)
+/-
0.06
Block Radius (Nmi)
+/-
305
Flight Speed (knots)
+/-
12
Block Speed (knots)
+/-
12
Page 45

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
MMH/FM
6.3
+/-
50%
Cost Estimates
Airplane RDT&E and acquisition costs as well and upper and lower uncertainty bounds
are shown in the following plots (Figure 20) for 1M, 3M, and 5M tonnes. The optimized
aircraft design is similar to that of a Gulfstream G200, so that aircraft was used to compare acquisition costs. It is apparent that engine costs above 19.8 km (65kft) increase
RDT&E and acquisition costs significantly.
Figure 20: New-design airplane RDT&E and Acquisition cost estimates for 1M, 3M, and 5M tonnes
per year up-mass. The upper and lower uncertainty bounds shown with fine lines.
Operations costs are plotted Figure 21 for 1M, 3M, and 5M tonnes along with upper and
lower uncertainty bounds. As expected, operations costs grow rapidly above 19.8 km
(65kft) altitude. This is due to the use of more expensive, exotic fuels at high altitude as
well as larger fleets due to the longer missions extended due to slower cruise speeds
and longer climb legs. Operations costs are compared to several airlines, with costs
scaled by yearly tonne-kilometers flown.
Page 46

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Figure 21: Yearly operations costs for 1M, 3M, and 5M tonnes yearly up-mass. Costs are compared against FY08 or FY09 operating expenses for several airlines. Expenses are scaled by yearly tonne-kilometers flown. Personnel costs for comparables are scaled by 2/3 to account for flight
attendant, booking, and customer service personnel.
Page 47

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Combining depreciation and interest for the RDT&E and acquisition costs with yearly
operations cost, a yearly total cost can be determined. This yearly cost is plotted vs.
altitude in Figure 22. Uncertainty is included as are the second lowest cost airplane
designs. There is a noticable increase in cost above 19.8 km (65kft) due to the increase
in engine development costs and fuel costs.
Lowest and 2nd Lowest Yearly Cost
(Including Ops, Depreciation, and Interest)
Cost ($ Billions)
10.0
1.0
Lowest Yearly Cost - 5MT
2nd Lowest Yearly Cost - 5 MT
Lowest Yearly Cost - 3 MT
2nd Lowest early Cost - 3 MT
Lowest Yearly Cost - 1 MT
2nd Lowest Yearly Cost - 1 MT
0.1
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Altitude (kft)
Figure 22: New-design yearly cost including depreciation, interests (both over 20-years), and yearly operations costs. Lowest cost design is plotted with uncertainty, with second lowest cost design shown with open symbols.
6.4
Conclusions
As expected, both operations and acquisition costs are minimized by flying smaller, lighter planes. For almost all altitudes, and yearly up-masses, a 10,000 kg payload size is
the most affordable. This is logical as a larger payload vehicle requires a larger air
frame utilizing more materials; requires more powerful engines which are more costly;
and requires a more highly trained crew that is paid more. The only missions that benefit from a larger payload mass is low altitude operations at 18.2km and 21.3km (60kft,
70kft) when yearly mass is 5M tonnes. In these 2 cases, due to the large fleet required
for 5M tonnes per year, a 40,000 kg payload is more cost effective. At higher altitude,
the large wing span required to lift the larger aircraft as well as the propulsion requirements drove payload mass down to 10,000 kg.
Page 48

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Figure 23: New design airplane

optimized wing span vs. altitude.
As expected, wing span increases
with altitude due to decreasing
atmospheric density.
As expected, airplane wing

span increased with altitude
due to the reduction in air density with altitude. A plot of airplane wing span vs. dispersal
altitude is included in Figure
23. The optimized aircraft have cruise lift coefficients of 0.6 to 1.1. Due to the slow
cruise speed, wing sweep is between 10 and 20. Not surprisingly at lower altitudes,
the geoengineering airplane optimizes out to be very similar to a business jet, but with
less wing sweep due to slower cruise speed and lower price due to the lack of executive
interior furnishings.
Geoengineering Aircraft
(15.2 km / 50 kft)
Gulfstream G250
(13.7 km / 45 kft ceiling)
Gross Weight (kg)
14,000
16,000
Wing Span (m)
20
17.7
Wing Sweep
10
28
Civil Purchase Cost34 (each)
$16M
$21.5M
At higher altitudes, the optimized geoengineering aircraft begins to resemble other high
altitude aircraft. At about 20 km (65kft) the wing span is about 35 meters, comparable
to the 32m wing span of the Lockheed U-2 designed to fly at over 20 km.
The optimized designs favor 2 engines over greater numbers as engines are a large
contributor to RDT&E and acquisition costs as well as spare parts costs. At 30.5 km
(100kft) the effect of thrust lapse if great, driving the number of engines required to 4.
Fleet size is heavily dependent on altitude as well as yearly up-mass. As altitude is increased, aircraft are pushed to the limit to generate adequate thrust to attain cruise altitude. Time to climb increases dramatically. Similarly, as coffin corner shrinks the acceptable speed range for the aircraft, they must fly slower to avoid formation of shocks.
These two factors drive mission time from just over an hour at 12.2 km (40kft) to over 3
hours at 30.5 km (100kft). Longer missions reduce the number of sorties each aircraft
34
Civil Purchase Cost refers to the cost a single aircraft including cost of production and production
tools as well as RDT&E costs.
Page 49

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
can perform driving up fleet

size. Figure 24 shows the trend
in fleet size with altitude for a
variety of yearly up-masses.
Figure 24: Fleet size as a function
of altitude for 1M, 3M and 5M
tonnes per year.
7 Airships
7.1
Airship Design Considerations and Assumptions
Airships provide an attractive solution to the mission of payload delivery because of

their large payload capacity and long endurance potential. The idea of using airships for
heavy payload missions resurfaces from time to time as technology develops and economic shocks cause a reexamination of current modes. For over 100 years, Lighter
Than Air (LTA) vehicles have provided persistent mission capability for operations
where speed was not a driver. LTAs, or blimps, are used in low altitude tourist operations in several locations around the world and are regularly employed as camera platforms over sporting events where their persistence and fuel efficiency is unmatched by
rotary or fixed wing systems. In recent years the concept of Hybrid Lift Airships (HLA)
has emerged as a way to reduce vehicle size and improve ground handling. HLAs generate the majority of their lift from buoyant forces like conventional LTAs but generate a
small percentage dynamically due to aerodynamic forces like a conventional airplane.
This affords HLAs the opportunity to be net heavy on the ground making operations
simpler and safer.
The HLA technology shows promise for geoengineering operations, but the technology
is still in its infancy. Several companies, such as Northrop Grumman and Lockheed
Martin, have developed technology demonstrators that are intended to prove the theory
of HLA design with goals of operating them at 65,000 ft or higher. However, current development programs focus on much lower altitudes. A recent U.S. Army contract will
provide Northrop Grumman with up to $517 million for development of a football fieldsized HLA capable of operating at 20,000 ft.35
35
Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) Agreement Signed. Jun 17, 2010. Online Posting. Www.Army.Mil. Oct 25, 2010 <http://www.army.mil/-news/2010/06/17/41024-long-endurance-multiintelligence-vehicle-lemv-agreement-signed/>
Page 50

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
The Lockheed Martin P-791 prototype, developed with $100M in funding from the U.S.
Department of Defense and significant investment from Lockheed, generates as much
as 20 percent of its lift from dynamic forces
(known as percent heaviness) (Figure 25).
Despite several flights proving the technology,
Lockheed has not flown the P-791 at high altitude and, with its cruise speed of 20 kts, it
most likely lacks the power required to overcome high altitude winds. Significant development is still required to increase the speed (to
navigate winds aloft), payload capacity, and
altitude capability of HLAs.
Figure 25: Lockheed Martins HLA technology demonstrator that made its first flight in 200636Hybrid Airship Design
LTA design has many established and understood design practices but HLA design
presents new and previously unexplored challenges. For this study, many design considerations are taken from Conceptual Design of a Hybrid Lift Airship for Intra-regional
Flexible Access Transport37.
Key Assumptions
x
x
x
A turboprop engine model is used for propulsion analysis. Costs of developing or modifying engines are computed using a modified version of the engine
CER presented in section 3.1
The Hull material and construction are sophisticated enough to handle a positive pressure differential without deformation.
Ballonets that can take 50% of the volume of the HLA with only 1% He loss
per flight
7.1.1 HLA Model

A Matlab model is used to design and simulate individual airships. The diagram of this
model can be seen in Figure 26. The model is used to analyze airships going to 15, 20,
25 and 30 kilometers maximum altitude with 0, 10 and 20 percent heaviness.
36
Lockheed Martin flight test video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wUkCyXCqUx8
37
Agte, J., Gan, T., Kunzi, F., March, A., Sato, S., Suarez, B., Yutko, B., Conceptual Design of a Hybrid Lift Airship for Intra-regional Flexible Access Transport, AIAA Paper 2010-1391, 48th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, Orlando, FL, 4-7 January, 2010.
Page 51

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Figure 26: Matlab model used to optimize HLA size and simulate missions
Vehicle Sizing
Without high fidelity aerodynamic modeling, sizing a novel vehicle of this size remains
uncertain. For the purposes of this study, a very simple design is considered and kept
constant across vehicles. A volume of helium is calculated based on percent heaviness
and the amount of helium needed to lift the vehicle at maximum altitude, the remaining
equations can be seen in appendix 10.2. Figure 27 shows the conceptual design of an
intra-regional HLA transport that could carry 45 metric tons across the continental US.
The model used the idea of connecting hulls to widen the vehicle and thus increase its
aerodynamic performance.
Page 52

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
50 m
163ft
35 m
116ft
88 m
290ft
Figure 27: Conceptual design of a HLA that could carry 45 metric tonnes in intra-regional cargo
transport.
Aerodynamic Forces
This study uses a low fidelity aerodynamic model based on basic principle and engineering estimates. As a result, many forces are allowed to vary to achieve steady level
flight and are then evaluated in a post process step to ensure validity.
Buoyancy Management
One open issue surrounding a HLAs with enormous lifting capability is recovering the
vehicle after it has released its payload. In a conventional airship, ballonets are used to
maintain equilibrium pressure across the hull surface so that by controlling the flow of
air into the ballonets, net buoyancy can be controlled. The vehicles in this study are not
only carrying more payload than traditional airships but are operating at a much higher
altitude. To support this extreme change in buoyancy, a concept of pressurized ballonets and hull is used in this model. This is similar to the design of prototype HLAs flying
today including the Lockheed P-791. Figure 28 shows a sketch of this concept. This
represents an area of ongoing research in the airship community but may be the only
feasible way to lift heavy payloads to high altitudes. Several aerospace primes are
studying HLAs for use as high altitude, long endurance, intelligence platforms.
Page 53

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Figure 28: By expanding ballonets inside of the hull, the net buoyancy of the vehicle changes to
manage lift. This requires the pressurization of the hull and the compression of air in the ballonets.
7.2
Cost Estimates
7.2.1 HLA Specific Modifications

Cost models associated with military aircraft must be modified to account for the increased size and payload capacity and the decreased cruise speeds of HLAs. The
same RAND DAPCA CERs are used as a baseline for HLA costing but several changes
are made. Refer to section 3 for the baseline costing model. The propulsion system development cost CER presented in section 3.1 is also modified for use in analyzing airships. Changes are as follows:
RDT&E/Acquisition Costs:
1) The difficulty factor is substituted with a design factor equal to 0.935. This design
factor captures the reality that with an increase in altitude, the complexity of a
HLA does not increase like an aircraft but only the amount of Helium it must carry
and thus its size.
2) Only one prototype HLA shall be built and it will be given to the operational fleet
once testing is complete. This is most likely a necessity given the effort that
would be needed to build such a large vehicle.
3) The flight speed term used in the engineering and production labor terms is removed. This reflects the inherent difference between military aircraft, which grow
in cost as flight speed is increased and airships, which are designed to fly slow.
4) An avionics cost of 1% of non-recurring cost is assumed.
5) Fly away cost includes all RDT&E and production split between the fleet.
Operations Costs:
1)
Operations will require 1% helium volume replenishment after every mission. This is due to leaks or inefficiencies in internal gas handling. For
20km (65 kft) altitude airships, yearly Helium replenishment equates to
Page 54

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
about 70% of 2008 U.S. production38. Helium is assumed to cost $2,000

per kilogram39 to account for the additional cost of producing such large
quantities.
2) 2 operators, 2 managers, 1 operation engineer, and 2 maintenance personnel
are assumed to be present for every flight hour.
The small global airship fleet made finding costs of comparable systems difficult.
Smaller blimps such as the Zeppelin NT carry only 1-2 tonnes of payload to 10,000 ft (3
km). Translating this airship type to geoengineering, a fleet of over 200 airships is required costing $1.8B. Larger airships have not been produced since before World War
II. The USS Akrons cost adjusted for inflation is approximately $70M but its large payload allows a fleet of only 40 ships to fly to 26,000 ft (8 km) for a cost of just under $3B.
These two comparables, though for lower altitude vehicles, line up well with the cost estimates generated using the CERs (Figure 29).
FleetDevelopmentandAcquisition
Cost($B)
ComparisonofBlimp/HLACostComparables
$8
$7
$6
NewDesign
HLAs
$5
$4
$3
USSAcron
$2
ZepplinNT
$1
$0
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Altitude(kft)
Figure 29: Comparision of fleet development and Acquisition costs for new design HLAs and
comparable blimps
38
Mineral Commodity Summaries: Helium. 2009. Online Posting. U.S. Geological Survey Minerals
Resources Program. <http://minerals.usgs.gov/minerals/pubs/commodity/helium/mcs-2009-heliu.pdf>
Accessed 9/10/2010.
39
This value represents the cost of helium in a post Strategic Helium Reserve market where demand
for helium for geoengineering operations has increased costs.
Page 55

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
7.2.2 Uncertainty Analysis

As with aircraft, uncertainty analysis is performed to determine cost estimates sensitivity
to changes in key design variables. Table 12 shows the input variables and their variation, which are slightly different from the aircraft analysis due to the nature of the models.
Table 12: Uncertainty Analysis varied key design variables to determine maximum and minimum
cost
Variable
Variance
HLA Mass
+/- 10%
Engine Tt4
+/- 100 K
Max Engine Trust
+/- 10%
Mission Time
+/- 40 min
Cost of Fuel
+/- 10%
Fuel Mass per Mission
+/- 10%
This analysis produced maximum and minimum costs for the top ranking architecture at
each altitude. It is apparent that the most uncertain aspect of the cost estimates, similar
to airplane cost estimates, is the engine RDT&E cost. To take this into account, an additional propulsion uncertainty is added onto the total non-recurring cost calculation as
shown in Table 13. This uncertainty grows noticeably with altitude, but to a lesser degree than in airplane cost estimates which use a similar engine cost model but has larger propulsion cost uncertainty due to the limitations of integrating propulsion onto an
airplane. This is due to the extra flexibility the airship allows. It is relatively simple to
add an additional engine or gear box and larger propeller to the airship without impacting its payload significantly.
Table 13: Additional uncertainty due to specialized engine development needed to perform at high
altitudes.
7.3
<65,000 [ft]
65,000 [ft]
80,000 [ft]
100,000 [ft]
No change
+/- 10% of Engine RDT&E
Conclusions
7.3.1 HLA and Campaign Optimization

While the model used in this study provided an effective design and evaluation tool, it is
not a suitable optimization tool to find robust optima as is done in the new aircraft analysis presented in Section 5. Cases are chosen for evaluation based on previous studies
and an estimated concept of operations, but the computational power was not available
to actively search for these parameters in the design space. As a result, there is no
Page 56

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
guarantee that an optimal solution was found but there is confidence in its general conclusions and demonstrated trends. The general trends are threefold
1) The designs tended to heavier payloads that take advantage of the buoyancy of
the HLA.
2) Lower altitudes require smaller vehicles that can carry more payload, driven by
the ratio of Helium density to atmospheric density at cruise altitude. This results
in significantly simpler operations and manufacturing. The large size of airships
for higher altitude is still an operational hurdle.
3) Cruise speed is constrained below 100 knots due to the large frontal area associated with HLAs. The slower cruise speed resulted in longer missions and a
slower operations tempo.
There is also a clear advantage to modern HLAs at high altitudes where the volume of
helium needed for buoyant flight in a traditional airship (LTA) becomes very large. The
cost of systems at different altitudes also depends heavily on what altitude they are optimized for. Thus, the optimal solution at a given altitude will not perform well at other
altitudes. The plots in the appendix 10.3 show the comparison between the optimal solutions and the LTA solutions.
7.3.2 Operational Constraints Considered
As with any vehicle, operations will place constraints on the design. For the subsequent
analysis, the HLAs are constrained by existing hangers located in the US with the notional idea that similar facilities could be built around the world if needed. These facilities
are shown in Table 14.
Table 14: Existing hangars on in the US constrain airships to 200x65x35 [m] or 650x210x110 [ft]
Location
Length [ft]
Width [ft]
Height [ft]
Akron, OH
1175
325
200
Moffett Field, CA
1170
231
124
Weeksville, NC
1000
220
160
Lakehurst, NJ
1000
220
160
7.3.3 Development and Acquisition Costs

Estimated costs of developing and acquiring the HLA fleet are shown in Figure 30. Each
architecture has a different number of HLAs in the fleet but overall costs are comparable.
Page 57

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
DevelopmentandAcquisitionCost[$Billions]
10
9
8
7
DevelopmentandAcquisitionCosts
BestConstrainedSolution
SecondConstrainedSolution
MaximumUncertainity
MinimumUncertainity
6
5
4
3
2
1
0
Altitude[kft] 40
50
60
70
80
90
100
Altitude (km) 12.2
15.2
18.3
21.3
24.4
27.4
30.5
Figure 30: The total cost of the fleet in millions of dollars. Development and acquisition costs
increase with altitude ranging from $2.8 Billion to $7.5 Billion although fleet sizes vary.
7.3.4 Yearly Operations Cost

Operations costs for each year include the entire fleet for a year fuel, personnel, helium
replacement, and maintenance. As with the other cost models in this study, HLA costs
do not include facilities or infrastructure. This is partly compensated by constraining the
vehicles to fit within existing hangars. It should be noted that here are some non-trivial
operational issues such as severe weather that may impact operations costs.
Page 58

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
YearlyOperationsCosts
1.00
0.90
YearlyOperations[$Billions]
0.80
0.70
0.60
0.50
0.40
0.30
0.20
0.10
0.00
Altitude[kft]
Altitude (km)
40
50
60
70
80
12.2
15.2
18.3
21.3
24.4
90
100
27.4
30.5
Figure 31: Yearly operations costs for airship geoengineering operations.
Figure 31 shows the fleet operating cost per year. The constrained solution shows a
drastic increase in cost past 24.3 km (80kft) due to the large size and weight of the
higher altitude HLAs. Air is simply very thin above 24.4 km, about 3.5% of the density
at sea level, requiring large HLAs with small payload fractions. This drives up the fleet
size and the number of sorties per year increasing fuel costs, personnel costs, and
maintenance costs.
7.3.5 Total Yearly Costs
Yearly total costs were computed in the same manner as described for aircraft. Total
yearly costs include cost of operations, interest payments for 20-year financing, and depreciation over 20 years.
Page 59

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
TotalYearlyCosts
(IncludingOperations,Depreciations,andInterest)
2.5
TotalYearlyCost[$Billions]
2.0
1.5
1.0
0.5
0.0
Altitude[kft]
40
Altitude (km)
12.2
50
15.2
60
70
80
18.3
21.3
24.4
90
100
27.4
30.5
Figure 32: Yearly cost of operation including fleet operation and financial considerations.
Lower fuel costs and the smaller fleet size are likely to allow airships to beat airplane
operating costs. Above 24.4 km (80kft) the air becomes too thin for airships to be a logical choice. The quantities of helium required increases while payload capacity shrinks,
driving airship costs up.
Airships provide a low cost method to transport large quantities of payload, but significant development is required mature the HLA concept and move it to the high altitude
required for geoengineering. While the CERs developed for airships provide a good estimate of cost, current HLA development efforts are higher than these estimates and reflect the immaturity of this technology.
The end goal of these recent HLA development efforts is a 65,000 ft capable airship, so
that altitude is used for comparison purposes. It is important to note that current HLA
prototypes have not exceeded 20,000 ft (6 km) and that even proposed prototypes are
being design for 20,000 ft demonstration. The Northrop Grumman HLA development
effort with up to $500M to produce up to three HLAs capable of carrying an estimated
1,500 kg provides a per ship cost of $166M. This provides one upper bound for geoengineering airships fleet costs of $45B. The Lockheed P-791 HLA prototype, with an estimated 1,000 kg payload, was developed for over $100M providing a second HLA fleet
Page 60

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
cost upper estimate of $40B. These maximum theoretical airship costs bring the maximum total yearly cost for airships up to the $8B-10B range.
FleetDevelopmentandAcquisitionCost
($B)
UpperBoundonHLACostEstimates
$100
NorthropHLA
LockheedP791
$10
USSAcron
ZepplinNT
NewDesign
HLAs
$1
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Altitude(kft)
Figure 33: Comparision of fleet development and Acquisition costs for new design HLAs including
recent HLA development efforts which provide an upper bound to cost estimates.
Airships offer less propulsion development risk than airplanes due to their large size and
large payload fraction. For example, imagine during the development of the geoengineering aircraft presented in section 6, that drag is higher than initially estimated. Additional thrust is needed so the 10,000 kg payload would need to be reduced to allow addition of an additional 1,500 kg engine. This represents a 15% reduction in payload,
and will increase fuel consumption requiring an additional reduction in payload. A similar drag increase on the airship, requiring an additional 1,500 kg engine, will only reduce
the airships 40,000 kg payload by 3.7% minimally impacting the fleet size and sortie
rate.
The majority of the airships technical risk comes from extending the technology to high
altitude. As the air gets thinner, the airship must increase in size to generate adequate
buoyancy and lift in less dense air. This pushes the structural design to the limit. The
presence of high altitude winds increases the propulsion requirements on the HLA and
transitioning through wind currents such as the jet stream may expose the vehicle to
large wind shear, further increasing structural requirements.
Page 61

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
8 Non-Aircraft Systems
8.1
Rocket Powered Glider
An analysis of a rocket powered system was carried out for comparison to airplanes.
The concept vehicle utilizes off-the-shelf rocket engines or motors to boost a vehicle
and payload to altitude. At apogee wings are deployed to increase the vehicles lift-todrag coefficient to allow it to glide at altitude and disperse payload. Once dispersal is
completed, the wings retract to allow it to descend quickly.
8.1.1 Cost Estimate
Though rocket glider cost estimates were developed, a preliminary analysis proved this
architecture is far too costly when compared to other systems. An initial estimate is
made using the cost per kilogram of existing rocket systems. Both sounding rockets
and orbital rockets were examined. Orbital rocket costs per kilogram are scaled down
by 1/7 to account for the reduced complexity and energy required to achieve high altitude instead of orbit. Seven sounding rockets and seven orbital rockets costs were
compared. Similarly, suborbital rockets costs were scaled to equalize costs based on a
constant altitude and payload capability. The results are shown in Figure 34.
OrbitalRocketCostperkgPayload
1/7OrbitalRocketCostperkgpayload
SuborbitalRocketCostperkg
LaunchCostperkgPayload
LaunchCostperkg
$100,000
$10,000
$1,000
$100
$10
$1
1
RocketType
Figure 34: Comparison of orbital and suborbital rocket costs per kilogram launched. Orbital rocket
costs are included scaled by 1/7 to account for the reduced energy required for a suborbital
launch. The black line indicates the average of the cost of $2,086/kg for a 1/7 scaled orbital rocket.
Page 62

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
The average cost computed from the 1/7 orbital rocket cost is $2,086 / kg. This is in line
with several published values that price a suborbital rocket launch as about $2,000 /
kg40. At this rate, launching 1M tonnes a year to altitude would cost $2,000B per year.
Based on this initial estimate, rockets are not completive from a cost standpoint.
Rocket motors and engines produce extremely large amounts of energy through controlled combustion of highly volatile chemicals. For this reason, a typical rocket has a
failure rate of several percent. Because these chemical propellants and oxidizers are
carried with the rocket, payload fractions are small and a large number of launches
would be required to achieve geoengineering up-masses. With a 5,000 kg payload,
200,000 launches a year would be required. If rockets can be refueled and refurbished
in 1 month, each rocket can fly 12 sorties a year. If no failures occur, a fleet of about
16,000 vehicles is required. If a failure rate of 5% is assumed (equivalent to that of a
Delta-class rocket), a staggering 10,000 rockets will be lost per year. These losses dominate acquisition requiring a total fleet size of over 216,000 rockets with almost all lost
due to failures. Clearly, rockets are not a viable system for geoengineering.
8.2
Guns
Conventional guns as well as more advanced gun designs were examined. Matlab
models originally developed to model rocket launch and ballistic coast were easily
adapted to guns and sued to verify projectile apogee height.
Table 15: Gun System Analysis Inputs
Item
Value41,42,43
Shell Mass (kg)
862
Payload Per Shell (kg)
70
Gun powder Mass per shot (kg)
297
Powder Cost per kg
$22
Muzzle Velocity (m/s)
760
Cost per New Barrel ($)
$7,500,000
40
Mains, Richard. Commercial SubOrbital Science: A Game-Changer for Micro-g R&D. Commercial
Space Gateway. May 4th, 2009. http://www.commercialspacegateway.com/item/19040-commercialsuborbital-science-a-game-changer-for (May 26th, 2010)
41
http://www.ussnewjersey.com/hist_sts.htm
42
United States. National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine.
Policy Implications of Greenhouse Warming- Mitigation, Adaptation, and the Science Base. Washington:
National Academy Press, 1992
43
http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-50_mk7.htm
Page 63

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Cost of Shell
$3,000
Full Time Personnel Per Barrel
Fire Rate
2 / min
Shots Per Barrel Lining
1500
Cost Of Barrel Relining
$335,000
Barrel availability due to relining, maintenance
50%
The basis for this analysis is the 16 Iowa class Mark 7 naval gun. While there are new
gun technologies under development that utilize electromagnetics, the 16 naval guns
represent a mature, deployable technology with almost a century or heritage. Inputs to
gun calculations are show in Table 15 with all costs in 2010 dollars.
These inputs differ from previous work on guns for geoengineering by the National
Academy42. The National Academy study assumes a payload fraction of 50%. At that
high a payload fraction, the projectile shell may not be strong enough to withstand
~35,000 g experienced during firing. Additionally, particulate density is lower than steel
density so high payload fractions may lighten the projectile limiting its range and altitude. The National Academy assumed a cost of $2 trillion to set up a 400 barrel gun
system, this seems very high and differs dramatically from the $7.5M per-barrel acquisition cost used in this analysis. The National Academy also used a higher value for the cost of barrel replacement/relining, this drove their solution to much
lower firing rates and many more guns. Their analysis used a fire rate of every 12 minutes while this
analysis uses a shot every 2 minutes. The Academy
assumed operations 250 days a year equivalent to
an availability of 68%. Finally, the Academy assumed 10 personnel for each gun while this study
assumed more automation and employed only 2
people per gun.
The guns have no trouble launching a projectile to
altitudes as high as 30 km (100 kft) when firing at an
angle of 85 to 90 degrees with a 760 m/s muzzle velocity.
Analysis is conducted assuming 1M, 3M, and 5M
Figure 35: A 16"/50 Mark 13 projectile weighing in at 862
kg. By design it carries a 70 kg payload. Note the greater
than 8 cm thick casing to withstand g-loads of firing and
increase weight. (http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_16-
tonnes up-mass per year. Costs
50_mk7_pics.htm )
Page 64

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
predicted for a gun system are heavily dependent on projectile payload fraction. With
the 70 kg explosive payload replaced with geoengineering material the shells have a
payload fraction of only 8%. This means to achieve 1M tonnes up-mass per year,
14,000,000 shots must be fired each year. A payload fraction of 50% was also analyzed to serve as a lower bound for cost.
The barrel linings need to be replaced after approximately every 1,500 shots44 (about 48
hours of firing). If it is assumed that the barrels are removed for relining elsewhere and
a fresh barrel is installed, we can assume this process takes an estimated 3 hours.
Thus each gun is then available 93% of the time. Availability was reduced to 50% to
take into account maintenance on loading mechanisms and other components. Crew
costs are rather conservative, as the firing process can be automated. Labor is assumed to be 1 operator and 1 maintenance technician 24-hours a day for each barrel
and 1 manager for 8 hours per day for each set of 10 barrels. The cost of setting up the
guns and associated breach loading systems, projectile conveyors, and gun mounts is
$7.5M per barrel.
8.2.1 Cost Estimate
The gun based system was the cheapest to develop and acquire. This is due to the maturity of the technology involved, having been used on battleships for approximately 70
years. A gun system would require a large number of barrels with automated loading
systems and barrel lining replacement systems. A rate of $7.5M per barrel was assumed for the construction of the gun loading and control systems. The largest expense associated with operating the guns is cost of projectiles. This is due to the 10%
payload faction of a conventional 16 projectile. Even though each projectile is relatively
cheap at $3000 each, with 14M projectiles needed each year, costs are exorbitant. The
recurring cost per kilogram to 21.3 km (100kft) altitude is $140. It should be noted that
the cost per shot of $9,500 within the same order of magnitude as the National Academy value of about $15,000 per shot (adjusted for inflation) shown in Table 16.
Table 16: Costs estimates for geoengineering gun system. Numbers based on Mark 7 U.S. Naval
guns with a 10% payload fraction. Previous estimates by the National Academy of Sciences (adjusted for inflation) are included for comparison (50% payload fraction).
44
Originally the linings lasted only 290-350 shots, but with the use of modern linings on powder bags,
gaseous erosion was significantly reduced. (http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_1650_mk7.htm)
Page 65

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Shots per
year
Number
of Guns
Number
of Barrels Replaced
Per year
Shell
Cost
Per
Year
Powder
Cost
Per
Year
Barrel
Reline
Cost
Per
Year
Cost
Per
Shot ($)
Depreciation Per
Year
Total
Yearly
Cost
1M
Tonnes/ yr
14,000,000
110
9,520
$43B
$93B
$3.2B
$9,770
$0.06B
$140B
3M
Tonnes/yr
43,000,000
330
28,570
$128B
$280B
$9.6B
$9,770
$0.18B
$419B
5M
Tonnes/yr
71,000,000
545
47,600
$215B
$466B
$16.0B
$9,770
$0.30B
$700B
10,000,000
400
8000
$113B
$13.6B
$11.3B
$14,090
$45B
$185B45
Natl. Ac.
5M
Tonnes/yr
These numbers are based on a gun system developed in 1939. To attempt to model a
more advanced gun system several modifications are made to the original Mark 7 gun
model (Table 17). Payload fraction is increased to 50% (431 kg per shot) to take into
account stronger, denser materials used in the projectile. This is in line with National
Academy payload assumptions. The projectile cost is reduced to $1,500 to account for
more automated manufacturing processes. Finally, barrel wear is increased to require
relining every 3,000 shots to account for the use of advanced materials.
Table 17: Costs estimates for modernized geoengineering gun system. Numbers based on Mark 7
U.S. Naval guns but with barrel linings lasting twice as long, 50% payload fraction, and projectile
cost halved. Previous estimates by National Academy are included for comparison (50% payload
fraction).
Shots per
year
Number
of Guns
Number
of Barrels
Replaced
Per Year
Shell
Cost
Per
Year
Powder
Cost
Per
Year
Barrel
Reline
Cost
Per
Year
Cost
Per
Shot
Depreciation Per
Year
Total
Yearly
Cost
1M
Tonnes/ yr
2,300,000
18
775
$3.5B
$15.1B
$0.26B
$8,160
$0.009B
$19B
3M
Tonnes/yr
7,000,000
53
2,320
$10.5B
$45.5B
$0.78B
$8,160
$0.03B
$57B
5M
Tonnes/yr
12,000,000
90
3,870
$17.5B
$75.8B
$1.3B
$8,160
$0.05B
$95B
10,000,000
400
8000
$113B
$13.6B
$11.3B
$14,090
$45B
Natl. Ac.
5M
Tonnes/yr
$185B
45
To maintain an equal comparison, only 45% of the $2T acquisition cost for the National Academy
system is depreciated to obtain total yearly cost. An inflation adjustment of 1.51 was used to escalate
National Academy 1992 dollars to 2010 dollars.
Page 66
45

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Even with these improvements, the cost per shot is reduced by only $1,500. This
represents a cost of $19 per kilogram to 21.3 km (100kft). The improved system with a
50% projectile payload fraction has yearly costs of about 50% less that the values calculated by the National Academy using a 50% payload fraction. Differences in shell
cost account for about half of this discrepancy. The remainder can be attributed to the
higher acquisition cost of the gun system in the National Academy analysis adding approximately $45B in depreciation per year.
8.2.2 Conclusions
While costs calculated here and those from the National Academy are comparable, the
gun system is too expensive to be competitive with airplanes and airships. For this system to be competitive, cost per kilogram must be reduced significantly by reducing projectile cost or increasing projectile payload to reduce number of shots required. That
said, the benefit of 30.4 km (100kft) capability may justify the higher cost of the gun system.
8.3
Floating Platform with Slurry Pipe / Gas Pipe
Analysis was conducted on systems utilizing a lighter-than-air platform to support a

pipe46,47. For simplicity a single monolithic floatation platform to support the pipe and a
single pump at the base are modeled. This allows prediction of the platform and pipe
system RDT&E costs using the airship cost model. Systems carrying a liquid slurry solution (density of 1000 kg/m3, equal to water), and a gas (density of 1.22 kg/m3, equal to
atmospheric density at sea level) are examined. It should be noted that the gas system
is not a chimney, as buoyancy is not being used to propel the gas. Altitude is limited to
21.3 km (70kft) to limit the size of the floatation structures.
8.3.1 Feasibility and Design
It is important to note that these systems are purely theoretical and push the limits of
todays materials and technologies. Analysis was conducted to determine approximate
costs for comparison purposes but uncertainty is very large and true development costs
are extremely difficult to predict. Deploying these systems may require significant advancements in fluid mechanics, aerodynamics, and material science.
46
Intellectual Ventures Lab. The Stratospheric Shield. Bellevue, WA: Intellectual Ventures, 2009
47
Jason Blackstock, D.S. Battisti, Ken Caldeira, D.M. Eardley, J.I. Katz, David W. Keith, A.A.N. Patrinos, D.P. Scharg, Robert H. Socolow, and S.E. Koonin. Climate engineering responses to climate
emergencies. Technical report, Novim, July 2009
Page 67

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
These systems trade two primary design drivers. First, the diameter of the fluid pipe
dictates the weight of the column of fluid in the pipe and the weight of the pipe itself,
driving the quantity of helium required to provide buoyancy and therefore the size of the
floating platform. Second, the diameter of the pipe dictates how fast the flow must travel to meet the yearly up-mass rate, dictating the pressure needed to drive the fluid to
altitude while overcoming friction in the pipe. These drivers compete: for a small platform a thin pipe is desirable but thin pipes require fast flows, have higher frictional
losses, and require excessive pressures. A large pipe and platform allows slow moving
flow, but at some size the feasibility of building a floatation platform becomes questionable.
To determine the feasibility of building a pipe system, a pipe diameter trade was performed to balance the two primary design drivers. A floatation platform of less than 300
m in diameter (as represented by a helium sphere) is desired. This platform size is significantly larger in volume than the largest airship built to date, the USS Akron, but comparable in linear dimension. For example, a typical NASA scientific balloon expands to
140 m at high altitude. Given advances in modern CAD/CAM and material technology
this size seems like a feasible size for a platform. A maximum feasible pipe pressure of
about 3,000 Atm (303 MPa; 44,000 psi) is also determined based on the hoop stress in
the pipes. While a pipe with thicker walls could withstand greater pressure, the weight
of the pipe causes the platform to grow far beyond the 300 m limit. In the following
plots, the region of the design space within this realm of technology is approximately
shown by the green shading.
The pipe has to resist several stresses making its design a challenge. There is a hoop
stress on the pipe from the pressure of the fluid inside it. There is a tensile stress on
the pipe due to its weight and the weight of the fluid. Additionally, the pipe and the floating platform must be able to resist atmospheric winds. Sections of the pipe and potentially the floating platform itself may be exposed to winds of up to 120 kts. This will put
large shear and additional tensile stress on the pipe increasing its required strength.
Distributed flotation along the pipes length reduces the tensile stress on the pipe but
will exacerbate wind shear. Adding pumps distributed along its length would reduce
pressure and loads as well. Additional trade studies are required to determine the benefits and disadvantages to distributed floatation and pumping. Details about the pipe
stress and strength are discussed in more detail in the following sections.
Page 68

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
8.3.2 Liquid Slurry Pipe
Figure 36: Pipe diameter trade between platform diameter (diameter of helium sphere) vs. pump
pressure required to pump liquid to 21.3 km (70kft). The design space of reasonable (300 m platforms, 3,000 Atm pipe pressure) is shown in green. System cost can be reduced by minimizing
pressure and platform size. Pressures can be maintained close to 2,000 atmospheres without requiring a platform beyond reasonable limits.
Figure 36 shows the trade between the pressures required to pump a fluid to 21.3 km
(70kft), overcoming friction and gravity, versus the size of the floating platform required
to support the pipe and column of fluid. The pipe is assumed to be a 70% carbon fiber
matrix composite with a 10 mm wall thickness and a density of 1600 kg/m3, though pipe
sections will need to be connected via a flexible coupling to allow movement.
For the liquid slurry system to be viable, between 10 and 100 pipe/platforms are required. At 34 pipe/platforms, the pressure required to pump the fluid is 2,200 Atm with a
platform diameter of 301 m. Pipe diameter is 0.04 m. This represents a good balance
between pressure, platform size, and number of pipe/platforms while being a low cost
solution balancing RDT&E costs limiting pressures to reduce pump electricity costs.
A lengthwise maximum strength for a 70% carbon fiber matrix composite is 1.5 GPa.
Assuming roughly half the fibers run lengthwise to resist the tensile strength and half
run circumferentially to resist the hoop stress, the actual strength of the pipe is 750
Page 69

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
MPa. These values include no margin for safety or for carbon fiber allowables48. The
maximum pressure near the base of the pipe creates a hoop stress in the pipe of 894
MPa. The weight of the pipe and the fluid is 1,150 kN causing 732 MPa tensile stress in
the pipe. There is an additional stress on the pipe due to wind that has not been calculated here. It is important to note that the hoop stress is reduced with height so the pipe
could be tailored to have more hoop strength near the base and less at altitude, lightening the whole structure. In summary, the slurry pipe concept does not violate physics or
material science, but will require innovative engineering to achieve a feasible design
with appropriate allowable and safety margin.
Figure 37: Pipe diameter trade between platform diameter (helium sphere diameter) required to
support pipe carrying air to 21.3 km (70,000 ft) vs. pump pressure required at base to move the air.
The design space of reasonable (300m platforms, 3000 Atm pipe pressure) is shown in green.
Pressures required to move the gases can be reduced as low as 100 Atm without requiring an excessively large flotation platform.
48
Allowables are material specifications with a certain probability of meeting or exceeding a specific
value. For example, the 1.5 GPa strength given here is a 50% allowable. This means 50% of the
structure will have a higher strength and 50% will have a lower strength. To ensure a safe design, a
95% or 99% allowable should be used which is typically to 1/3 the value of the ideal 50% value. For
the pipe case this means only the strongest 50% of the pipe sections produced will be used (increasing
price) or the strength property used to design the pipe should be reduced to the 95% or 99% allowable.
Page 70

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
8.3.3 Gas Pipe
Figure 37 shows the pipe diameter trade between the pressures required to pump a gas
to 21.3 km (70kft) versus the size of the floating platform required to support the column
of gas. The pipe is assumed to be a 5 mm wall thickness 70% carbon fiber reinforced
composite. The primary differences between the gas pipe and the liquid slurry pipe are
the non-uniform density and the lower viscosity of the gas. The gas pipe carries a compressible gas so the density of the column of gas is not uniform. The gas near the bottom of the pipe is pressurized as it pushes the column of gas upwards against the force
of gravity and friction.
The gas system requires between 10 and 100 pipe/platforms. Pressures are significantly reduced over the slurry system due to reduced density and viscosity of the gas, but
the larger pipe diameters required to move the low density gas cause the pipe weight to
be double that of a comparable liquid system even with half the wall thickness required
to resist pressure. The gas system optimizes to about 90 systems with 0.21 m diameter
pipes. This requires a platform of 330 m in diameter, only 10% larger than the limit of
300 m. Pressures at the base of the system are 156 Atm.
The 70% carbon fiber matrix composite pipe has a maximum strength of 1,500 MPa.
This translates to 750 MPa in the lengthwise and circumferential direction (neglecting
allowable and safety margin) when plies are aligned at 90 to each other to carry the
orthogonal loads. The maximum pressure near the base of the pipe creates a hoop
stress in the pipe of 666 MPa. The weight of the pipe and the fluid is 1,525 kN causing
450 MPa tensile stress in the pipe. These values indicate the system is feasible but has
little margin for safety or for carbon fiber allowables. Again, note that the hoop stress is
reduced with height so the pipe could be tailored to have more hoop strength near the
base and less at altitude, lightening the whole structure. In summary, the gas pipe concept does not violate physics or material science, but will require innovative engineering
to achieve a feasible design. Properties for the gas pipe and the slurry pipe system are
tabulated below (Table 18).
Table 18: Properties of Slurry Pipe and Gas Pipe systems

WallThickness(m)
PipeDiameter(m)
AreaofPipe(m^2)
TensileForceduetoweight(N)
PlatformSize(diaHesphere,m)
TensileStress@Maxweight(Pa)
MaxPressure(Pa)
MaxPressure(Atm)
HoopStress@Maxpressure(Pa)
LiquidSlurry
0.010
0.040
0.0016
1,151,000
300
732,572,000
223,694,000
2,200
894,777,000
GasPipe
0.005
0.210
0.0034
1,525,000
330
451,586,000
15,870,000
160
666,534,000
Page 71

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
UltimateStrength(CF70%)(Pa)
1,500,000,000
1,500,000,000
8.3.4 Cost Estimate

The development costs of a pipe strong enough to constrain the floating platform in the
presence of high altitude winds as well as
PlatformCost(AirshipCER)[M$]
resist the extremely high pressure exerted
on the pipe are difficult to predict. With
carbon fiber prices on the order of $22 per $500
kilogram and the pipe containing up to $400
114,000 kg of carbon, the material costs
for the pipe are $2.5M. Development of $300
more advanced materials, engineering and $200
development of the pipes themselves, and
testing costs are harder to predict for such $100
PlatformCost($M,each)
a unique pipe application and easily ex$0
ceed $1B and may reach perhaps $20B.
0.0
100.0
200.0
300.0
400.0
A value of $10B is used for cost estimates.
DiameterofHeliumSphere(m)
Figure 38: Cost of floatation platform based on airship CER presented in section 7.2.1. Points indicate an airship cost determined with the airship CER. The curve fit was used for cost of the
floating platforms.
The costs associated with building a 10 or 100 dirigibles 300 m diameter are easier to
estimate so that will be the focus of the pipe/platform cost calculations. Utilizing the airship CERs (Figure 38), a 300 m (0.014 km^3) floatation platform costs approximately
$415M. This cost seems reasonable due to the complexity of piping, pumps, and high
pressure equipment. Additionally the floatation platform may make use of propulsion to
counter the effects of winds aloft. Considering the similarity between the floating platform and a deep water oil drilling rig, both support miles-long pipe systems while pumping high pressure drilling fluids and processing high pressure (up to 2,000 Atm) oil and
gas, the drilling rig cost seems to be a good upper bound
for platform cost. At 106x70m the Cajun Express deep
water oil drilling rig pictured in Figure 39 rents out at
about $500,000 per day and has a cost of about $600M.
This is in good agreement with the values predicted by
the CER.
Figure 39: The Cajun Express deep water drilling rig. At
106x70m and with up to 10.6 km (35kft) of pipe down to a pocket
of high pressure oil and natural gas, these off shore rigs are
analogous to a floating geoengineering platform (Transocean
image, http://www.deepwater.com/fw/main/Cajun-Express-52C17.html).
The liquid slurry system requires 34 platforms and slurry

pipes to reduce pressures and platform buoyancy re-
Page 72

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
quirements enough for the system to be feasible. With a platform of 301 m in diameter,
each pipe/platform has a $418M acquisition cost. Adding $10B for pipe development
brings initial costs to $24.2B.
A 90 platform gas pipe systems requires a floatation platform of 330 m in diameter costing $540M each, combined with $10B for pipe development, RDT&E and acquisition
cost are $58.6B.
Assuming some automation, a crew of 2 full time engineers and 2 full time maintenance
technicians run each platform. Two additional technicians supplement each crew for 8
hours each day and there are 2 managers per 10 platforms overseeing operations (1
manager for the single platform case. Total personnel costs were estimated at $3.5M
per year per platform plus management costs. This equates to $120M in yearly personnel costs for the 34 slurry pipes and $330M in personnel costs for the 90 gas pipes.
Required pump power is determined by adding the power required to overcome friction
to the power required to overcome the weight of the fluid. First the pressure to overcome viscous frictional losses in the pipe is converted to a head height (in meters). Using the pump power formula below, a friction power is determined. This is added to the
power required to overcome the weight of the fluid, derived from the same pump power
formula but using the 21.3 km (70kft) height of the fluid column.

Where:
P = pressure at base of column
= density of the fluid
G = acceleration due to gravity
= Volumetric flow rate
H = head height
e = pump efficiency
Assuming a standard pump efficiency of 60%, each liquid slurry pipe requires 330 kW to
run. Over a year, this equates to 2,890 GW-h for each slurry platform. Industrial electricity rates in the US range from $0.05 to $0.18 per kW-h, assuming the median rate of
$0.11 per kW-h, each slurry pipes pumps costs $0.318M to run for one year. With 34
pipes required to move 1M tonnes per year, total electricity costs are about $10.8M.
Each gas pipe requires 110 kW to run. Over a year, this equates to 963 GW-h for each
pipe/platform. Assuming a median electricity rate of $0.11 per kW-h, each pipes pumps
costs $0.106M to run, or $9.5M for the set of 90.
Page 73

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Some aspect of the system will need to be repaired or refurbished during its life. The
cost of spare parts and maintenance is assumed to be 10% of the acquisition cost divided over the 20 year system life. This brings total yearly cost for a slurry pipe system
to approximately $4.1B. Estimates for total yearly costs for the gas pipe system are
about $10.1B per year. A summary of the costs of the two systems is included below.
Table 19: Summary of costs for slurry pipe and gas pipe systems
Electricity
Cost
($M/yr)
Personnel
Costs
$M/yr
Spares
Cost
($M/yr)
Operations
Cost$/Kg
Platform
Cost
Each
($M)
TotalPlat
form+Pipe
Cost($M)
Deprecia
tion
($M/yr)
Interest
($M/yr)
Total
Yearly
Cost
$4,140
Liquid:
$10.9
$120
$121
$0.25
$418
$24,200
$1,090
$2,800
Gas:
$10.6
$331
$293
$0.63
$540
$58,640
$2,640
$6,790 $10,060
9 Conclusions
The primary conclusion to draw from this feasibility and cost study is that geoengineering is feasible from an engineering standpoint and costs are comparable to quantities
spent regularly on large engineering projects or aerospace operations. Airplane geoengineering operations are comparable to the yearly operations of a small airline, and are
dwarfed be the operations of a large airline like FedEx or Southwest. With yearly costs
including interest payments and depreciation for a 1M tonne up-mass costing about $1B
to $2B for a new airplane design, planes are competitive with systems utilizing other
technologies. Airships provide about a $0.5B savings over airplanes and are even more
attractive from a cost and technological risk standpoint. Other systems do provide
access to high altitude. Suspended pipe systems are competitive and offer the lowest
recurring cost per kilogram, but more thorough analysis is required to determine their
true feasibility and refine development cost estimates which are difficult to predict.
9.1
Comparison of All Systems
The table below (Table 20) summarizes the costing results for all the systems examined. New airplane designs, optimized for low cost and designed to fulfill the geoengineering mission had low recurring costs. This low operating cost comes at the expense of additional RDT&E and acquisition cost. This is due to the high level of technology required to fly airplanes to such high altitudes while making the aircraft efficient
to operate. That said, airplanes are routinely operated above 65kft and represent a significantly more mature technology than high-altitude airships or floating pipe system.
Utilizing existing used aircraft reduced startup costs but the lack of high altitude capability limits existing aircrafts usefulness for geoengineering. Second-hand aircraft may require increasing maintenance and have limited useful life. Modifying existing aircraft
does improve high altitude capability but eliminates the cost advantage to using existing
systems.
Page 74

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Table 20: Summary of all systems examined. 1M tonnes per year, all costs in FY10 dollars.
System Type
Boeing 747 Class
Modified Gulfstream Class
New Design Airplane
New Design Airplane
New Design Airplane
New Design Airplane
New Design Airplane
Gun (Mark 7 16")
Gun (Modernized Mark 7)
Hybrid Airship
Hybrid Airship
Hybrid Airship
Rocket
Floating Slurry Pipe
Floating Gas Pipe
Altitude
(kft)
45
60
40
60
70
80
100
91
91
66
82
98
100
70
70
Altitude
(km)
13.7
18.3
12.2
18.3
21.3
24.4
30.5
27.7
27.7
20.0
25.0
30.0
30.5
21.3
21.3
RDT&E and
Acquisition
Costs ($B)
$0.820
$3.230
$2.010
$2.070
$5.580
$7.780
$11.400
$0.340
$0.550
$4.000
$5.900
$7.500
$41,700.000
$24.200
$58.640
Recurring Cost per

Kg
(Less RDT&E, Acquisition Costs)
$1.00
$2.15
$0.30
$0.35
$0.56
$0.60
$0.75
$137.00
$18.90
$0.35
$0.40
$0.80
$2,090.0049
$0.25
$0.63
Yearly Total Cost

Including depreciation and Interest
($B)
$1.130
$2.890
$0.610
$0.670
$1.460
$1.850
$2.570
$136.760
$18.900
$0.990
$1.370
$2.030
$2,090.000
$4.140
$10.060
Gun systems, simialar to the 16 Naval guns of the Iowa class battleship provide the
solution with the lowest initial investment due to technological maturity. The large
number of shots required to lift 1M, 3M, or 5M tonnes of mass drives up the cost of
projectiles and barrel relining making guns a costly system. Even doubling projectile
payload, halving projectile cost, and increasing barrel resilience, gun recuring costs
were orders of magnitude more than other systems. For guns to be competitive,
projectile costs must be reduced significantly or projectile payload must be increased
without affecting projectile height capability.
Slurry pipes and gas pipes supported by floating platforms may be prommising
solutions, but the technical challenges associated with them require a more detailed
look to identify required technological advancements and develop maturation plans to
for those technologies. Developing and producing large floating paltforms on the order
of 300 m in diameter with 14x106 m3 of helium to support the pipe is within the realm of
possibility but at a high cost approaching $0.5B each. The pipe systems high operating
pressures and tensile strength requirments bring the feasibility of this system into
question. The pipe itself will require advanced materials and significant engineering to
withstand the immense pressures and forces acting on it. Once developed, the minimal
electricity and personnel costs allowed the pipe systems to achieved the lowest
49
This value is the acquisition costs of the launch vehicles per kilogram flown. Operations costs are
small in comparison and were not calculated due to the high cost of rockets.
Page 75

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
recurring cost per kilogram of all systems examined. At under $0.20 per kilogram, the
pipe systems have the cheapest operating costs on a per-kilogram basis. Assuming the
pipes and platforms do not need extensive maintenance or replacement the yearly
opperating costs remain low. This makes pipes the most promising system for long
duration geoengineering operations. After ample time for development, pipe systems
may replace lower risk airplanes or airships once their service life has been expended.
Figure 40 provides a comparsion of all the systems yearly costs (including depreciation,
interest, and operation). The high altitude capability of guns and rockets comes at an
extreamly high cost. The large cost associated with developing high altitude airship and
airplane systems is dwarfed by the costs of other non-aircraft high altitude systems.
Even with generous uncertainties on the new aircraft and airship systems(shown as
shaded regions), the costs of rockets and guns dwarf the cost of aircraft systems.
Airships manage to beat out aircraft at high altitude due to their significant advantage in
fuel burn and slightly lower development and acquisiton costs. While airplanes provide
flexability, having low costs at all altitudes, airships are better suited to large payload,
high altitude operations. Gas and slurry pipes may provide a cost competitve solution if
low end estimates are accurate but, with considerably higher tehcnological risk, their
RDT&E and acquisition cost posses large uncertainties and may exceed $20B even if
they prove technically feasible.
YearlyTotalCostComparison(1Mtonnes/year)
$10,000.00
YearlyCost
$1,000.00
$100.00
NewDesignAirplane
HybridAirship
Boeing747Class
Gun(Mark716")
Rocket
Gas Pipe
Chimney
SlurryPipe
Rocket
Gun(Mark716")
GasPipe
$10.00
ModifiedGulfstream
Class
Boeing747Class
Gun(Modernized
Mark7)
SlurryPipe
$1.00
HybridAirship
NewAircraftDesign
$0.10
Altitude(kft) 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Altitude (km) 0
6.0
12.2
18.3
24.4
30.5
36.5
Figure 40: Comparison of yearly costs for various geoengineering systems. Shaded regions show
uncertainty in cost estimates.
Page 76

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Figure 41 provides a comparison of the recuring costs per kilogram to transport that
kilogram to altitude. Depreciation and interest costs are negelected. The slurry and gas
pipe systems are cheap to operate due to their low personnel costs. Actual maintence
costs for the pipe systems are difficult to predict and may increase these operating
costs significantly. With opperations costs below $1 / kg, the airplane and airship are
systems that are affordable to operate at all altitudes. Even expensive airplane systems
such as modified buisiness jets come in at only $2 / kg to altitude. This is compared to
over $10 to $100 / kg for guns.
OperationsCostPerKilogramComparison
OperationsCostperkilogram
$10,000.00
$1,000.00
$100.00
$10.00
NewDesignAirplane
HybridAirship
Boeing747Class
Gun(Mark716")
Rocket
Chimney
Gas Pipe
SlurryPipe
Rocket
Gun(Mark716")
Gun(Modernized
Mark7)
ModifiedBizJetClass
$1.00
GasPipe
Boeing747Class
HybridAirship
SlurryPipe
NewDesignAirplane
$0.10
Altitude(kft) 0
20
40
60
80
100
120
Altitude (km) 0
6.0
12.2
18.3
24.4
30.5
36.5
Figure 41: Recurring cost per kilogram for each system. This recurring cost per kilogram only
considers operations costs and does not include depreciation and interest costs. Uncertainty
shown by shaded areas.
When comparing the cost breakdown for the various systems one can see what drives
the cost for each (Table 21). The airship is able to achieve lower total yearly costs over
airplanes due to significantly less fuel burn. Even with the long duration missions
increasing crew costs, the fuel savings accounts for half of the difference in cost
between the two systems. The reduced development and acquisition cost of the
airships serves to reduce depreciation and interest costs accounting for the remaining
advanatge airhsips have in yearly cost. The pipe systems costs are dominated by the
interest and depreciation costs since that system is inexpensive to operate. This is
even more noticable on the slurry pipe system requiring 100 pipes and platforms.
Clearly a small escalation in development cost of those systems will have a large impact
on their anuual cost. The gun systems cost is driven primarily by the cost of the shells.
The low payload fraction of the shells and the need for over 2 million shots means a
small increase in shell cost will drive annual costs up significantly.
Page 77

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Table 21: Comparison of yearly operating, depreciation, and interests cost for the various systems
Fuel,
Electrical,
Powder/shells
Costs
Crew
Costs
Maintenance
Costs
Depreciation
Costs
Interest
Costs
Total Yearly Costs
Airplane
25 km (80kft)
$0.239B
$0.076B
$0.284B
$0.350B
$0.901B
$1.850B
Airship
25 km (80kft)
$0.006B
$0.168B
$0.249B
$0.266B
$0.685B
$1.370B
Slurry Pipe
21 km (70kft)
$0.011B
$0.120B
$0.121B
$1.090B
$2.800B
$4.140B
Gas Pipe
21 km (70kft)
$0.011B
$0.331B
$0.293B
$2.640B
$6.790B
$10.060B
Gun (Modern)
27.6 km (90kft)
$18.600B
$0.002B
$0.252B
$0.009B
$0.006B
$18.900B
While analysis shows airplane geoengineering is possible up to 30.5 km (100kft), at

these altitudes, the need for development of a new high altitude propulsion system
provides a large amount of uncertainty to aircraft development costs. Above 24.4 km
(80kft), the assumed $2B cost of engine development could easily swell as has been
the case with many recent engine development efforts. One example is the Pratt and
Whitney F135 engine effort that was initially projected at $4.8B and has swelled to over
$7.2B. At altitudes in excess of 60kft, the airship system provides greater propulsion
flexibility than airplanes, but the large surface area of the airship requires a carefully
designed structure and powerful propulsion system. With no high altitude airship flight
herritage, the airships vulnerability to winds and weather are unknown risks. Above
about 80kft, HLA size to generate enough boyancy as well as the size of the flaoting
platform required to support a gas pipe or slurry pipe become very large. New
propulsion for airplanes and airships would need to be developed, with resulting
increase in cost estimate uncertainties. In the 80-100 kft range, the relative simplicity of
the gun system begins to look attractive despite the high recuring cost of shells, if the
payload fraction can be increased.
9.2
Recommendations for Future Work
Additional work is suggested to refine the new airplane and airship designs. Uncertainties in the predicted costs for each can be reduced through more detailed conceptual
designs.
Similarly, the floating platform system with a gas pipe or slurry pipe costs appeared
competitive with airplanes and airships, but also represented a system with some of the
most difficult to predict RDT&E costs. A more thorough look at the floating platform design and the pipe design is required to obtain more accurate cost for that system. A detailed structural analysis of the pipe including modeling of wind effects, optimization of
pipe to reduce wind effects, modeling of tapered pipe, and trade studies of distributed
floatation and pumping will improve understanding of feasibility and cost.
Page 78

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
10 Appendix
10.1 Basing Options
Figure 42 shows 11 potential basing locations. A survey of satellite photos for the various locations allowed verification that these sites have ample space for any required
infrastructure improvement to accommodate a large geoengineering fleet.
Figure 42: Map of potential basing locations.
10.2 HLA Sizing Equations
Page 79

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010

Margins were then added to these sizes to account for crew and/or avionics, payload,
and fuel. This results in a final HLA volume shown in the equation below

Page 80

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
10.3 HLA Architecture Comparisons

The following plots compare all potential airship solutions examined for geoengineering.
They are included to show how constraining the airship size effected airship cost numbers.
10.3.1 Yearly Financed Fleet Operations
Yearly cost includes operations, finance charges, and depreciation. Unconstrained solutions larger than existing hanger facilities are shown.
Page 81

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
10.3.2 Capital Cost of Fleet

Fleet RDT&E and acquisition costs including solutions larger than existing hanger facilities.
Page 82

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
10.3.3 Operations Costs

Operations costs for all airships, including unconstrained solutions larger than existing
hanger facilities.
Page 83

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
10.4 Existing HLA Hangars

Due to their buoyancy, airships are typically stored and serviced in large hangars affording them protection from severe weather. Several large airship hangars are still in service (for other uses). The airship solutions presented in section 7 are constrained by
these hangar sizes.
Hangar #1 at NASA Ames Research Center
Left: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/images/2008/macon_12.html
Right: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/images/content/74046main_mACD99-0136-23.jpg
Hangars #2 and #3 at Naval Air Warfare Center in Lakehurst, NJ
Hangar No. Two Dimensions
Exterior Length (Maximum)
614 Feet
Exterior Width (Maximum)
217 Feet
Exterior Height (Maximum)
118 Feet
Page 84

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Interior Length, Floor
604 Feet
Interior Width, Floor
155 Feet
Clear Door Height
90 Feet
Clear Door Width
156 Feet
Hangar Floor Area
93,620 Sq. Feet
Hangar No. Three Dimensions
Exterior Length (Maximum)
414 Feet
Exterior Width (Maximum)
217 Feet
Exterior Height (Maximum)
118 Feet
Interior Length, Floor
404 Feet
Interior Width, Floor
155 Feet
Clear Door Height
90 Feet
Clear Door Width
156 Feet
Hangar Floor Area
62,650 Sq. Feet
Courtesy: http://www.nlhs.com/hangars.htm
Page 85

UC01-001; AR10-182
October 30, 2010
Page 86

Geoengineering

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Geoengineering

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Description:

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Geoengineering

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

What is geoengineering and what is the purpose of this study?

What is geoengineering and what is the purpose of this study?

What factors affect the dispersal of materials for geoengineering purposes?

What factors affect the dispersal of materials for geoengineering purposes?

Geoengineering Cost Analysis

Contract Number: __UC01-001______

Aurora Report Number: ____AR10-182__

Geoengineering Final Report

Executive Summary ..................................................................................... 3

Geoengineering Concept of Operations ................................................ 8

Overview of Aircraft Design and Selection .......................................... 21

Analysis of Existing Aircraft and Results ............................................. 33

New Aircraft Design ............................................................................ 43

Assumptions specific to analysis of existing aircraft ...................................... 33

Airships ............................................................................................... 50

Non-Aircraft Systems .......................................................................... 62

10 Appendix ............................................................................................. 79

Geoengineering Final Report

Geoengineering may be a means to create a time buffer against catastrophic climate

Geoengineering Final Report

Geoengineering Final Report

Geoengineering Final Report

Introduction to This Study

Payload dispersal rate

0.1 to 0.003 kg/m

Geoengineering Final Report

Research, Development, Testing & Evaluation

Yearly Total Cost

Thousands of Feet (kft):

Chemistry Considerations Affecting Dispersal

Atmospheric chemistry analysis as well

Pierce et al., op. cit.

Geoengineering Final Report

2 Geoengineering Concept of Operations

Pierce et al., op. cit.

Pierce et al., op. cit.

Geoengineering Final Report

Regional: 747s operating regionally from multiple bases

Transit: 747s transiting from 8 bases

Transit: 747s transiting from 4 bases

Geoengineering Final Report

3 Basis for Cost Models

RAND DAPCA IV Cost Estimating Relationships

Geoengineering Final Report

(< 21.3 km)

Geoengineering Final Report

RDT&E Engineering Hours:

Geoengineering Final Report

Ne = Number of engines per aircraft

Geoengineering Final Report

RDT&E Avionics Development Cost:

For manned vehicle

3.1.2 Production Labor Hours and Cost

Geoengineering Final Report

For manned vehicle

3.1.3 Fleet Size

Warm-up, Taxi, Takeoff,

Geoengineering Final Report

Sorties per Day

Contract Number: UC01-001____

Aurora Report Number: __AR10-182

Flight crew cost / block hour