Sustainable Aircraft Propulsion — Lecture Notes (Open Educational Resource)

Aviation connects people, economies, and cultures across the globe — yet it also contributes to environmental change at a planetary scale. Nowhere is this tension more evident than in aircraft propulsion, where thermodynamics, technology development, economics, and climate science intersect. These lecture notes were written to help students engage with this complexity in a rigorous and constructive way. Sustainable Aircraft Propulsion — Lecture Notes was developed for the course Sustainable Aircraft Propulsion in the Master of Science programme in Aeronautical Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome. The text introduces the technological, environmental, and systemic dimensions of aviation decarbonisation, covering topics such as gas-turbine performance and efficiency, Sustainable Aviation Fuels, hydrogen propulsion, hybrid-electric architectures, non-CO₂ climate impacts, lifecycle assessment, scenario-building, and uncertainty quantification. The guiding pedagogical principle is that an engineer is not only a problem solver, but also a citizen responsible for the consequences of proposed solutions. The book therefore places equal emphasis on physical modelling, technological realism, ethical responsibility, and the treatment of uncertainty. Its aim is not to promote a single technological pathway, but to equip students with the tools needed to critically evaluate the diverse options available for sustainable aviation. These notes are intended primarily as an educational resource and will continue to evolve. They may contain inaccuracies, and constructive feedback is welcome. The text (except where otherwise noted) is released as an Open Educational Resource under the Creative Commons Attribution–NonCommercial–ShareAlike 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). A DOI is assigned to support citation and long-term accessibility. AuthorRiccardo Malpica GalassiSapienza University of Romericcardo.malpicagalassi@uniroma1.it Cite as: Malpica Galassi, R. (2025). Sustainable aircraft propulsion — Lecture notes. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.18053070