The Air Mobility Pathfinders project will tackle one of the most important challenges in the Advanced Air Mobility industry – researching how to safely integrate emerging electric air taxi technologies into cities and the national airspace system to help revolutionize air transportation.
This project’s research will help accelerate the industry’s development of this innovative system of aircraft and technologies to move people and cargo safely to and around metropolitan areas while remaining connected to established forms of regional transport like subways, busses, ride-share services, and cars.
Through a series of technical capabilities evaluations with government and industry partners, researchers will collect data to create and test a reference architecture, or blueprint, for safe, secure, and scalable Urban Air Mobility Operations which supports public good, and fosters U.S. aeronautics leadership worldwide.
The project will undertake four areas of research:
- Operational Concepts, Architectures, Requirements & Integration
- Systems Engineering and Integration
- Airspace Operations
- Flight Operations
NASA’s research will provide the Federal Aviation Administration with new data to help their process of safely enabling scalable Urban Air Mobility systems into the National Airspace System, opening the skies for industry expansion in the next decade.
Foundational research from previous efforts like the Grand Challenge, National Campaign, Automated Flight and Contingency Management, and High-Density Vertiplex — among other efforts — provided essential data to the Advanced Air Mobility Industry. The value of this past research allows the Air Mobility Pathfinders project to focus on testing and evaluating new technologies and aircraft in Urban Air Mobility scenarios, which can provide a system blueprint for regulators and industry.
Air Mobility Pathfinders will:
- Give vehicle manufacturers, operators, and prospective airspace service providers insights into the evolving regulatory and operational environment.
- Facilitate community-wide learning while capturing the public’s imagination.
- Promote public confidence in Urban Air Mobility safety.
Working with industry partners, NASA will develop testing scenarios that:
- Address key integration and safety barriers across Urban Air Mobility vehicle and airspace systems.
- Emphasize critical operational challenges towards commercial viability and public confidence in Urban Air Mobility operations.
- Identify functional requirements for Urban Air Mobility systems scalable for mid-term development.
- Provide a system blueprint for Urban Air Mobility that is tested and replicable for regulators and the industry.
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