According to the US government contracting website beta.SAM.gov: “The realization of the UAM vision will be possible only through the input and contributions of multiple stakeholders, each possessing the necessary authority, expertise, and/or resources to fulfill a critical role in UAM’s development, approval, and implementation. The applicable participants will become integral to the working groups, which will provide a forum for those stakeholders to comment, collaborate and impact the overall ecosystem.
“The primary purpose of the UAM ecosystem working groups is to share input, information and opinions that may help to accelerate the development of safe, high-volume UAM flight operations in the existing and anticipated future national airspace system. A broad participation from many organizations will enable NASA, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the UAM community to supplement the existing efforts in the industry, focusing on understanding the viewpoints of a diverse group of stakeholders and an understanding of the ecosystem as a whole. The UAM ecosystem working groups, in coordination with the Grand Challenge series, industry developments and other ARMD efforts, will contribute to the enablement of UAM markets.
“NASA seeks to accomplish the following goals:
- Communicate the current and future state of the UAM ecosystem and align on terminology, challenges, barriers, and solutions.
- Provide a forum to forge collaborative opportunities to advance UAM, including establishing new industry partnerships.
- Increase awareness of NASA’s research and planned transition paths.
- Develop a NASA-curated “Book of Requirements” for UAM technology, systems, and operations.
- Support discussions of regulatory and standards development activities at the federal, state, and local level.
- Inform the community on the current state of the industry to identify research gaps and areas of highest industry need.
- Engage the public on UAM, including stakeholders from state and local governments.
“The working group participants will be asked to share their diverse expertise, information and opinions on these topics. The working groups will be a forum to communicate industry demonstrations, research and development (R&D) priorities, and share concepts that may enable UAM. Participants will help identify the critical parameters and standards that may impact the future framework development and approach for safety, certification, airspace, aircraft concepts, technologies, and architectures.
“NASA seeks information and viewpoints on the following priority topics:
- The overall approach to the Grand Challenge (GC) Series, including elements of GC Developmental Testing and the first Grand Challenge.
- Requirements associated with each aircraft system and subsystems, airspace system and subsystems, and infrastructure necessary to advance UAM.
- Community wide R&D efforts, with a focus on areas of NASA R&D that will enable critical elements of UAM integration.
- Federal, local, and other industry-led initiatives.
Response date: January 20, 2025 11:59 pm PST
For more information: https://beta.sam.gov/opp/73edaa14f90340a48eb0d3aa33101e6f/view?keywords=UTM&sort=-modifiedDate&index=opp&is_active=true&page=1
(Image: Shutterstock/Chesky)