ISLAMABAD: The world’s first-generation contrail-free aircraft engine, currently being built in Pakistan for the global aviation industry, is expected to be ready between mid-to-late 2020, the technological marvel’s inventor, Dr. Sarah Qureshi, revealed while talking to Arab News earlier this week.
Qureshi has been working on the project since 2018 to eliminate the negative impact of commercial air carriers on the stratosphere that contributes to global warming.
In a one-on-one with this publication, the Pakistani scientist explained the contrail phenomenon, a visible white streak of smoke emitted from an aircraft’s jet engines during flight, and discussed its harmful effects on Earth’s atmosphere.
An environmentalist at heart, Qureshi turned her academic research at Cranfield University, UK, into a save-the-planet endeavor and embarked on a mission to build the world’s first pollution-free jet engine.
The world aviation industry, she claimed, ignored to develop the technology and focused more on extracting monetary value by building fuel-efficient engines.
With global temperatures rising, oceans warming up, Greenland and Antarctic ice sheets shrinking, glaciers retreating, Arctic sea life declining, and oceans acidifying as carbon dioxide levels skyrocket, the climate change debate has grown fierce as activists across the world highlight environmental hazards and try to spread awareness about the phenomenon.
Taking a swing at Elon Musk’s trip to Mars program, the scientist says that “unless you have a confirmed ticket” to the red planet, “which does not have a livable atmosphere,” Earth is the best bet and must be saved.
In this video, Arab News gives its readers a quick glimpse into Qureshi’s invention and the threat the aviation industry currently poses to the planet.
