Abstract
The Modular Aerial Suppression Architecture (MASA) is an open-hardware conceptual aerial firefighting platform designed around segmented ballistic fire-suppressant deployment rather than conventional liquid-tank dumping systems. The architecture proposes the use of modular cargo-based deployment systems integrated into reversible commercial or cargo aircraft platforms, allowing suppressant payloads to be delivered through stabilized aerodynamic cone units intended to improve directional placement accuracy in high-wind wildfire environments.
Unlike traditional airtankers that rely on large liquid retardant releases susceptible to wind drift, atomization, and severe center-of-gravity slosh dynamics, MASA utilizes discrete suppressant payload units engineered with forward-weighted ballistic stability and passive fin-controlled descent characteristics. The cone geometry is conceptually intended to behave similarly to a stabilized dart, allowing the payload to maintain a more predictable trajectory through turbulent wildfire airflow conditions.
A primary safety feature of the architecture is the proposed low-altitude pre-dispersal mechanism. Rather than allowing the suppression units to strike the ground as intact high-mass projectiles, the units are designed to mechanically open or disperse at a targeted altitude range above terrain, conceptually reducing impact energy and minimizing risks to people, structures, and property in the event of targeting deviations. Following deployment activation, the suppressant transitions into a lower-energy dispersal cloud or directional spray intended to improve localized suppression coverage while reducing hazardous terminal impacts.
The system is specifically framed as a nighttime and indirect wildfire perimeter-containment platform rather than a low-altitude direct-attack airtanker replacement. The modular architecture emphasizes reversible cargo integration, segmented payload management, predictable center-of-gravity migration, and phased subsystem validation through scalable prototype testing.
MASA is released openly under the CERN Open Hardware Licence Permissive (CERN-OHL-P) as a public-domain engineering feasibility study intended to encourage independent aerospace, wildfire-response, cargo-handling, and materials engineering evaluation, simulation, prototyping, and humanitarian disaster-response research.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
Recommended Citation
Caldwell, Michael Victor Mr., "Modular Aerial Suppression Architecture (MASA)", Technical Disclosure Commons, ()
https://www.tdcommons.org/dpubs_series/10163