The snowflake generator has a much more important function than merely being decorative. You see, environmentalists have become concerned that the vapor trails left by commercial aircraft increase cloud cover and thereby increase global warming by increasing the "blanket" effect of reflecting heat back to the earth rather than letting it escape into the stratosphere.

It's been proposed that global warming could be partially counteracted by any means that would increase the reflectivity of portions of the earth's surface, so that incoming solar energy would be reflected back into space to a greater degree.

So the snowflake generator is a means to cover the earth with more snow, which is highly reflective, in an effort to counteract the warming effect of the contrails, and thus get the environmentalists off the airlines' backs.

Yes, I am an engineer.

No I am not serious. ;)