Federal award (DELIVERY ORDER, fiscal year 2023)
Recipient: NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF AEROSPACE ASSOCIATES
Awarding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Funding agency: National Aeronautics and Space Administration / National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Period of performance: 2018-09-20 to 2019-09-30
Current total value of award: $190402.09
Description: EXPLORATION OF POTENTIAL MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT MISSIONS FOR PASSENGER-CARRYING URBAN AIR MOBILITY MISSIONS. THE CONVERGENCE OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES, SUCH AS ELECTRIC PROPULSION, AUTONOMY, AND NEW BUSINESS MODELS, SUCH AS APP-BASED RIDE SHARING, ARE GENERATING THE POTENTIAL FOR A NEW AVIATION MARKET KNOWN AS URBAN AIR MOBILITY (UAM) TO EMERGE. IT IS ENVISIONED THAT UAM MAY REVOLUTIONIZE MOBILITY WITHIN METROPOLITAN AREAS BY ENABLING A SAFE, EFFICIENT, CONVENIENT, AFFORDABLE, AND ACCESSIBLE AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM FOR PASSENGERS AND CARGO. SUCH AN AIR TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM COULD BRING AVIATION INTO PEOPLE S DAILY LIVES AND PROVIDE AN AUGMENTATION AND/OR ALTERNATIVE TO OTHER GROUND-BASED TRANSIT MODES, SUCH AS CARS. THE UAM MARKET IS NOT LIKELY TO APPEAR OVERNIGHT. RATHER, SOME FORM OF EVOLUTIONARY APPROACH BASED ON THE PACE OF TECHNOLOGY DEVELOPMENT, SOCIETAL ACCEPTANCE, AND MANY OTHER FACTORS MAY BRING US FROM THE CURRENT STATE OF THE ART TO THE ENVISIONED FUTURE STATE WHERE AVIATION IS A NORMAL PART OF PEOPLE S DAILY LIVES. TO HELP NASA ARMD CONSIDER POTENTIAL EVOLUTIONARY PATHS TO PASSENGER-CARRYING UAM OPERATIONS, THE DEVELOPMENT OF A MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT IS THE FOCUS OF THIS TASK. MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT (MVP) IS A TERM THAT EVOLVED FROM PRODUCT DEVELOPERS IN SILICON VALLEY WHO WERE SEEKING WAYS TO GET PRODUCTS INTO THE HANDS OF CONSUMERS AS EARLY AS POSSIBLE. BY DEFINING THE SMALLEST SET OF FEATURES THAT SATISFIES EARLY ADOPTERS, THE MVP APPROACH OFFERS THE ADVANTAGE OF PURSUING AN AMBITIOUS VISION WHILE LEARNING FROM REAL-WORLD USERS, GENERATING REVENUE EARLIER IN THE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS (POSSIBLY), AND FEEDING THE BUILD-MEASURE-LEARN CYCLE WITH DATA. MVP IS AN ITERATIVE PROCESS THAT REDUCES THE RISK OF DEVELOPING A PRODUCT BASED ON RISKY ASSUMPTIONS. THERE ARE MANY POTENTIAL MISSIONS THAT COULD EMERGE AS A MVP. ONE POTENTIAL MISSION, WHICH HAS RECEIVED SOME ATTENTION IN THE LITERATURE, IS THE MEDEVAC OR AERIAL MEDICAL TRANSPORT MARKET. ANOTHER POTENTIAL MVP IS THE USE OF NOVEL AIRCRAFT IN FERRY-LIKE SERVICES THAT OPERATE OVER SHORT RANGES ACROSS GEOGRAPHIC BOUNDARIES, SUCH AS BODIES OF WATER OR MOUNTAINS, TO OVERFLY CHOKE-POINTS IN CURRENT URBAN TRANSPORTATION NETWORKS. THE PURPOSE OF THIS TASK IS TO IDENTIFY MULTIPLE POTENTIAL MVPS FOR PASSENGER-CARRYING UAM OPERATIONS AND PERFORM ECONOMIC ANALYSIS TO DETERMINE THE POTENTIAL VIABILITY OF AT LEAST ONE MVP. AN INITIAL ASSUMPTION IS THAT THERE IS NO UAM MVP IN EXISTENCE TODAY. THIS ASSUMPTION PRECLUDES THE ANALYSIS OF THIS TASK SUGGESTING THAT EXISTING CHARTER/PRIVATE HELICOPTER OPERATIONS (SUCH AS THOSE PERFORMED BY BLADE IN NEW YORK CITY) ARE A MVP. HOWEVER, EXTENSIONS OF THESE OPERATIONS INCLUDING ANALYSIS OF INCREASED MARKET SIZE WITH NOVEL TECHNOLOGIES (E.G., ELECTRIC VERTICAL TAKEOFF AND LANDING VEHICLES) COULD BE CONSIDERED A MVP. ADDITIONALLY, ALTHOUGH SOME COMPANIES ARE ELECTING TO EXPLORE NOVEL MARKETS OVERSEAS IN AREAS WITH DIFFERENCE REGULATORY ENVIRONMENTS, THIS EFFORT IS SOLELY FOCUSED ON INSTANTIATION OF POTENTIAL MARKETS IN THE U.S. OR ITS TERRITORIES.