Why were flying taxis not at the Olympics?

Before the 2024 Paris Olympics, we were promised the first operational eVTOL flying taxi service would take flight at the games. However, as Paris kicked off roughly two weeks of high-octane sporting competition at the end of July, those air taxis were nowhere to be seen.

Sports enthusiasts saw plenty of records broken, but transport technophiles weren’t so lucky. Let’s delve into the details of why Volocopter’s air taxi wasn’t at the Olympics.

Also, SpaceX could launch a world-first mission to the Earth’s poles by the end of the year. We can always rely on them to break new records.

Reading Time: 4 Minutes

Did a friend forward this e-mail to you? Subscribe here

Subscribe to IE+: Your VIP pass to the universe of aerospace! Exclusive weekly content: Interviews, deep dives. Join the astronaut crew: Share your spacefaring dreams, discuss breakthroughs, and connect with fellow space nerds - and it is Ad-Free. Subscribe here

INDUSTRY UPDATES

🪐 Opinion: Europe's space sector is 10 years behind the competition

🛩️ Liberty Lifter: How Cold War tech inspired DARPA's next-gen transport

🌖 NASA teams up with energy giant BP to drill for hidden Moon, Mars resources

✈️ China claims cheap iron-coating camouflages military jets from enemy radars

🚀 SpaceX to make history, launch 1st-ever human mission to Earth’s poles by year-end

🔥 Shoebox-sized saviors: New AI CubeSats could detect forest fires 500 times faster

☢️ Starship accused of mercury contamination in Texas waters, SpaceX denies

🚁 100+ mph speed, 1,000 lbs payload: US Air Force receives first Midnight eVTOL

AEROSPACE ENGINEERING SPOTLIGHT

Where are the flying taxis?

Prior to the Paris 2024 Olympics, German air taxi firm Volocopter announced it had struck a deal to fly its VoloCity aircraft at the Olympic games. 

The company would fly one passenger at a time on predetermined routes from the center of Paris to five specific locations. It would mark the start of a new mode of transportation, ushering us into a future of faster public transport.

But it never happened.

Unfortunately, certification delays meant it was not to be. That’s not to say Volocopter had zero presence at the Olympic games. The company carried out a test flight on Sunday, August 11. That day marked the close of the Olympics, and it showed that we still aren’t so far off the future envisioned by Volocopter and others. 

During its test flight, the VoloCity performed an early sunrise demonstration over the grounds of the Versailles palace. The eVTOL aircraft carried baggage instead of people, as it was not yet certified to carry passengers.

The grounds of the Versailles palace form an important part of the history of air travel, as the first hot-air balloon took flight from the location in 1783. As such, they were a symbolic location for the test flight – another stepping stone for Volocopter’s path to passenger flight certification.

According to a report from AP News, Europe’s air safety agency didn’t grant Volocopter certification in time for the games. However, the company now hopes to earn that certification in time to carry passengers for the reopening of the Notre Dame Cathedral in December.

Other companies are also aiming to carry passengers soon. California-based Archer Aviation announced this week that it has handed its first eVTOL air taxi to the US Air Force. The USAF will evaluate the aircraft’s capabilities as part of the AFWERX Agility Prime contract, which is valued at up to $142 million. 

It might not have been the grand first passenger flight many were hoping for at the Olympics, but air taxi transportation still appears to be just around the corner.

AERO BULLETIN

Fram2: Another historic SpaceX mission

SpaceX announced this week that it will launch a crew of four passengers aboard a Crew Dragon capsule on the Fram2 mission later this year. 

According to SpaceX, Fram2 will make history by being the “first human spaceflight mission to explore Earth from a polar orbit and fly over the Earth’s polar regions for the first time.”

Here are some details on Fram2 and a couple of other upcoming historic SpaceX missions. 

Fram2

The name Fram2 is an homage to the Norwegian ship, Fram, which made history by reaching both the Arctic and Antarctic between 1893 and 1912. 

The 3-5-day Fram2 mission will allow the private passengers to use Dragon’s transparent cupola to observe the Earth’s polar regions from an altitude of 425-450 km.

Polaris Dawn

SpaceX is targeting August 26 for the launch of its Polaris Dawn mission. If all goes to plan the private space mission will perform the first-ever commercial spacewalk. 

Billionaire entrepreneur Jared Isaacman chartered the mission. He previously flew aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule for the Inspiration4 mission.

Starship Flight 5

Fram2 and Polaris Dawn will take off aboard SpaceX’s workhorse Falcon 9 rocket. The company is still hard at work testing its next-generation rocket, the fully reusable Starship. 

SpaceX recently announced that Starship Flight 5 is ready to launch, pending regulatory approval. During the integrated flight test, SpaceX aims to catch the massive rocket’s Super Heavy first stage booster out of the sky using its ‘Mechazilla’ tower’s chopstick arms. If the mission is a success, it will be a sight to behold.