A new research project at ESA Phi-Lab, Netherlands, is set to tackle one of aviation’s lesser-known climate challenges: contrails. The EO4Contrails project, led by Dutch SME Meandair in collaboration with the Royal Netherlands Aerospace Centre (NLR), has officially kicked off at the NL Space Campus in Noordwijk.
While most people associate aviation emissions with CO₂, contrails can also significantly contribute to global warming. Contrails are the thin, white clouds often seen behind aircraft. Under certain atmospheric conditions, these contrails can persist and form cirrus clouds that trap heat in the atmosphere. Reducing their formation could therefore play an important role in making air travel more sustainable.
The EO4Contrails project aims to address this by developing a new generation of real-time weather intelligence, powered by space-based data. By combining satellite observations with advanced atmospheric models, the team will create a system that can identify where contrails are most likely to form.
This information can then be used by airlines and flight planners to make small adjustments to flight routes to avoid the conditions where long-lasting, climate-warming contrails occur, while keeping fuel use and operational impact to a minimum.
A key innovation of the project is the use of Earth Observation technologies, including satellite imagery and GNSS radio occultation data, to improve the accuracy and timeliness of atmospheric information. These space-based measurements provide a global and near real-time view of temperature and humidity at cruising altitudes, which are critical factors in contrail formation.
By improving the precision of weather “nowcasting”, which improves from forecasts hours in advance to updates every few minutes, the project aims to enable more dynamic and responsive flight planning. This could significantly reduce the climate impact of aviation without requiring major changes to aircraft or infrastructure.
The project also reflects a broader shift in the aviation sector, where both industry and regulators are increasingly focusing on non-CO₂ effects. With new European requirements emerging to monitor these impacts, solutions like EO4Contrails could help airlines better understand and manage their environmental footprint.
Supported by ESA Phi-Lab Netherlands, EO4Contrails brings together cutting-edge research, commercial innovation, and space technology to address a global challenge. Over the coming months, the team will work on developing, validating, and demonstrating the new system, with the ambition to bring it into operational use in the near future.
