The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering is one of eight faculties at Delft University of Technology. It is one of the most comprehensive academic and innovation communities worldwide focusing on aerospace engineering. Its 120 professors and 70 researchers are mentoring and teaching around 2,800 BSc/MSc students and more than 350 PhD candidates while working in all aerospace disciplines. It’s a powerhouse in aerospace education, research, and innovation, within the top 10 in the world. Our priority themes? Sustainable aerospace, digital transformation, including Artificial Intelligence, bio-inspired engineering and smart instruments and systems. Here’s our story.@en

Sustainable aviation is a key area for climate action. In this course, we will take you through the technologies and other innovations of recent years and promising future developments in the field. We will start from the basics of how aircraft fly and how they impact the environment. You will gain present-day knowledge of technical solutions and possibilities of modern engineering to make aviation more sustainable. Next, we will discuss solutions. you will learn about alternative propulsion methods, energy carriers (batteries, fuel cells) and novel aircraft designs (including the Flying V project at TU Delft, a new design for a highly energy-efficient and long-distance commercial aircraft.) We will also bust some common myths about the topics along the way, like why it is a very unpractical thought to simply cover up the entire aircraft with solar cells. But the solutions presented will not cover just the technical aspects. You will discover the importance of the ecosystem surrounding aviation for its sustainability: manufacturing, operations, and the role of the individual in our airborne society. The course will stimulate critical and creative thought about the future of aviation and how you can be part of those solutions. With its long history of research of aircraft design, operations and climate effects, the world-class experts from the The Faculty of Aerospace Engineering at TU Delft will guide you through this journey to sustainable aviation. The course will also include guest lectures from industry professionals from leading aviation companies such as Airbus. @en

Aviation is the backbone of our modern society. In 2019, around 4.5 billion passengers travelled through the air. However, at the same time, aviation was also responsible for around 5% of anthropogenic causes of global warming. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the aviation sector in the short term is clearly very high, but the long-term effects are still unknown. However, with the increase in global GDP, the number of travelers is expected to increase between three-to four-fold by the middle of this century. While other sectors of transportation are making steady progress in decarbonizing, aviation is falling behind. This paper explores some of the various options for energy carriers in aviation and particularly highlights the possibilities and challenges of using cryogenic fuels/energy carriers such as liquid hydrogen (LH ₂) and liquefied natural gas (LNG).

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To counter the climate effects of flying, we must start a revolution in aviation. Solutions must and will be found. I believe we’re at a new dawn of aviation.@en