NASA Selects Electra as AAM National Campaign Partner to Accelerate Urban & Regional Air Mobility
Electra.aero has been selected as a partner in the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA) Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) National Campaign, which aims to integrate air taxis, cargo delivery, and other advanced aircraft concepts into US airspace.
Electra’s hybrid eSTOL aircraft team will participate in an information exchange with NASA’s National Campaign to support new vehicles and other technologies to expand urban and regional air mobility.
Electra is one of four new industry partners that signed agreements to exchange information about their vehicles, development processes, infrastructure, and capabilities under the National Campaign – 2, Information Exchange Annex (NC‑2) phase of the Campaign.
NASA says the information will help it integrate efforts across the AAM ecosystem and produce data to assist the Federal Aviation Administration in defining regulatory compliance to ensure safe commercial operations.
NASA’s AAM deputy project manager for technology Ken Goodrich said: “We are excited to welcome Electra to the National Campaign and to learn more about their vision for using their ultra-short take-off and landing (STOL) aircraft for safe, efficient intra-regional mobility,”.
Electra VP and general manager JP Stewart said “This partnership affords Electra valuable access to NASA’s extensive experience and knowledge base in designing, testing, and flying novel aircraft, as we prepare to flight test our full-scale eSTOL technology demonstrator aircraft later this year.”
“We’re honored to be selected as an NC‑2 partner and look forward to sharing our insights to support the development of advanced air mobility.”
In August 2021, NASA signed a contract with Electra to enable aerodynamic ‘blown lift’ technologies for eSTOL aircraft in advanced air mobility applications.
Electra teamed up with Professor Alejandra Uranga at the University of Southern California (USC) Department of Aerospace and Mechanical Engineering, and was awarded a contract under the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) program.
The previous month, 13 companies and one university signed agreements with NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility project’s National Campaign to integrate air taxis, cargo delivery aircraft and other new air vehicle concepts into US airspace.
The partners signed on for the first full phase of NC‑1, which is planned for 2022, and includes flight, airspace, and infrastructure partners for flight testing.
