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Our concept studies indicate that a set of reflectors floated in the upper atmosphere can efficiently reduce radiant forcing into the atmosphere. The cost of reducing the radiant forcing sufficiently to reverse the current rate of Global Warming, is well within reach of global financial resources. This paper summarizes the overall concept and focuses on one of the reflector concepts, the Flying Carpet. The basic element of this reflector array is a rigidized reflector sheet towed behind and above a solar-powered, distributed electric-propelled flying wing. The vehicle rises above 30,480 m (100,000 ft) in the daytime by solar power. At night, the very low wing loading of the sheets enables the system to stay well above the controlled airspace ceiling of 18,288 m (60,000 ft). The concept study results are summarized before going into technical issues in implementation. Flag instability is studied in initial wind tunnel experiments.

A direct solution to Global Warming would be to reflect a part of sunlight back into Space. A system tradeoff study is being developed with three of the concepts that are being evaluated as long-endurance high-altitude reflectors. The first concept is a high aspect ratio solar powered flying wing towing reflector sheets. This concept is named “Flying Carpet”. Second is a centrifugally stretched high altitude solar reflector (CSHASR). The CSHASR has 4 rotors made of reflector sheets with a hub stretching to 60 percent of the radius, held together by an ultralight quad-rotor structure. Each rotor is powered by a solar-electric motor. A variation on this concept, forced by nighttime descent rate concerns, is powered by tip-mounted solar panels and propellers with some battery storage augmenting rotational inertia as well as energy storage. The third concept is an Aerostatically Balanced Reflector (ABR) sheet, held up by hydrogen balloons.

In recent years, the residential and transportation sectors have made significant strides in reducing energy consumption, mainly by focusing efforts on low-hanging fruit in each sector independently. This independent viewpoint has been successful in the past because the user needs met and resources consumed in each sector have been clearly distinct. However, the trend towards vehicle electrification has blurred the boundary between the sectors. With both the home and vehicle now relying upon the same energy source, interactions between the systems can no longer be neglected. For example, when tiered utility pricing schemes are considered, the energy consumption of each system affects the cost of the other. In this paper, the authors present an integrated Home-Vehicle Simulation Model (HVSM), allowing the designer to take a holistic view.

Turboelectric propulsion is a technology that can potentially reduce aircraft noise, increase fuel efficiency, and decrease harmful emissions. In a turbo-electric system, the propulsor (fans) is no longer connected to the turbine through a mechanical connection. Instead, a superconducting generator connected to a gas turbine produces electrical power which is delivered to distributed fans. This configuration can potentially decrease fuel burn by 10% [1]. One of the primary challenges in implementing turboelectric electric propulsion is designing the power distribution system to transmit power from the generator to the fans. The power distribution system is required to transmit 40 MW of power from the generator to the electrical loads on the aircraft. A conventional aircraft distribution cannot efficiently or reliably transmit this large amount of power; therefore, new power distribution technologies must be considered.

The recent development of electric vehicles creates a new area of interest regarding their potential impacts on natural resource and energy networks. Water consumption is of particular interest, as water scarcity becomes a growing problem in many regions of the world. Water usage can be traced to the production of gasoline, as well as electricity, for regular operation of these vehicles. This paper focuses on the development of a framework to analyze the amount of water consumed in the operation of both conventional and electric vehicles. Using the Systems Modeling Language, a model was developed based on the water consumed directly in energy generation and processing as well as water consumed in obtaining and processing a vehicle's fuels. This model and framework will use the above water consumption breakdown to examine conventional and electric vehicles in metropolitan Atlanta to assess their impacts on that and other urban networks.

This paper describes a machine to quarry construction material, sinter walls, and assemble future space station modules. In prior work, we explored the solar energy requirements to build a 50m diameter, 50m high, cylindrical module out of pulverized rock from a Near-Earth Object, using tailored radio wave fields. In this paper, we describe the issues in the conceptual design of the robotic construction machines. The 4-legged Rock breaker is designed to fit the payload bay of a modern heavy-lift booster to reach Low Earth Orbit, and primary solar-sail propulsion for most of its journey. It uses beamed microwave energy for its cutting operations. Rotating, telescoping arms use integrated laser/plasma jet cutter arrays to dig trenches in spiral patterns which will form blocks of material. Cut blocks are sent into a toroidal cloud of material for use in the force field tailoring for automatic module formation.