Adding onto the list of transportations available, the long-speculated Air Taxis might soon be open for people and goods to be carried across places. The international space agency NASA has started testing an all-electric vertical vehicle with vertical and landing evaluations (eVTOL). The tests that began on Monday come under its Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Campaign and mark the first time when NASA has included an eVTOL aircraft in the programme.
These will be conducted till Friday, September 10th at the Joby Aviation’s Electric Flight Base situated close to California’s Big Sur. These taxis could soon be hired by people living in cities and adjoining places in the US.
Through this, NASA aims to gather information about vehicle performance and acoustic data to utilize it in the modelling and simulation of airspace concepts in the future. Moreover, these tests will also support the agency in finding problems in the existing Federal Aviation Administration regulations and policies. The results are expected to help incorporate AAM aircraft into the National Airspace System.
The AAM campaign, however, will be held in many places in the US for several years to enhance the airspace mobility services in the nation.
Speaking about the campaign, Davis Hackenberg, NASA AAM mission integration manager said, “The National Campaign Developmental Testing is an important strategic step in NASA’s goals to accelerate the AAM industry timeline. These testing scenarios will help inform gaps in current standards to benefit the industry’s progress of integrating AAM vehicles into the airspace.”
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Joby’s eVTOL aircraft, which will provide the data set to NASA in this testing stage, is expected to be used in the future as a commercial passenger vehicle. The data extracted from this test will then be used to prepare the AAM National Campaign for getting into the first level of tests. NC-1, as the tests have been named, will begin in 2022 with the addition of advanced flight probabilities and other industry automobiles.
The NASA team will proceed to gather information following the test scenario completion to assess the vehicle movement, sounds, and its way of communication with controllers. Companies interested in offering air taxis in the future will follow a similar pattern to analyze their vehicle preparedness.
Over 50 microphones will be constructed and the mobile acoustics facility will be brought into force to evaluate the acoustic profile of Joby’s aircraft in the various stages during flight.
“NASA’s AAM National Campaign is critical to driving scientific understanding and public acceptance of eVTOL aircraft. We’re incredibly proud to have worked closely with NASA on the electric flight over the past 10 years and to be the first eVTOL company to fly as part of the campaign,” said Joe Ben Bevirt, founder and CEO of Joby Aviation.
The aircraft’s safety, airworthiness and ticking off of protocols needed in the future testing regimes will also be checked by NASA to allow people to fly during the campaign.
These aircraft are likely to offer an affordable and efficient system for passengers and goods to be transported across the national airspace. They will take the shape of Air Taxis, package delivery drones, medical transportation vehicles and more.
