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Special Seminar
Flying the Future: NASA Research in Wildfire Response and Urban Air Mobility
Dr. Min Xue
Project Manager
Advanced Air Mobility Pathfinders Project
NASA
Tuesday, April 28, 2026
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
ASE 1.126
Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) represents a significant evolution in aviation, transforming how air transportation serves society. Central to this transformation is the emergence of “new entrant” operations, including uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS), electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles, and other advanced aerial platforms that differ from traditional crewed aviation. AAM aims to enhance mobility and connectivity for passengers and cargo, particularly in urban and underserved regions. However, AAM also presents significant airspace integration challenges, including scalable traffic management, safe operations in congested or degraded environments, and ensuring minimal impact on existing air traffic control systems.
The NASA Advanced Air Mobility Pathfinders (AAMP) project is developing and evaluating airspace management capabilities to enable safe and scalable AAM operations in collaboration with the FAA and community stakeholders. One key focus is the Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS), which supports continuous 24/7 beyond-visual-line-of-sight missions in degraded conditions, particularly for emergency response applications. Another key focus is the development and evaluation of requirements for airspace service providers supporting medium-density urban air mobility (UAM) operations. In parallel, the AAMP project also investigates high-altitude traffic management to ensure coordinated integration across the national airspace system.
In this talk, a high-level overview of the NASA AAMP project will be provided, with emphasis on ongoing effort in wildfire aerial operations and urban air mobility. The presentation will highlight key enabling research areas, including past and current efforts as well as potential future directions, and will discuss how these activities contribute to safe, scalable, and efficient Advanced Air Mobility operations in complex operational environments.
Bio: Dr. Min Xue is an aerospace research engineer at NASA Ames research center. He earned his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. His research at NASA spans a broad range of aviation topics, including modeling, simulation, and algorithm development and analysis for conventional air traffic management, as well as the integration of new entrant vehicle operations into the National Airspace System. He has authored more than 60 journal and conference publications in the field of air transportation research.
Dr. Xue currently serves as the project manager for NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility Pathfinders (AAMP) project, where he leads the development and evaluation of advanced airspace management systems for emerging aerial operations. His work includes leading the development and evaluation of airspace services supporting Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) operations, as well as the Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS), which enables 24-hour beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations in degraded visual environments for emergency response missions.
The NASA Advanced Air Mobility Pathfinders (AAMP) project is developing and evaluating airspace management capabilities to enable safe and scalable AAM operations in collaboration with the FAA and community stakeholders. One key focus is the Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS), which supports continuous 24/7 beyond-visual-line-of-sight missions in degraded conditions, particularly for emergency response applications. Another key focus is the development and evaluation of requirements for airspace service providers supporting medium-density urban air mobility (UAM) operations. In parallel, the AAMP project also investigates high-altitude traffic management to ensure coordinated integration across the national airspace system.
In this talk, a high-level overview of the NASA AAMP project will be provided, with emphasis on ongoing effort in wildfire aerial operations and urban air mobility. The presentation will highlight key enabling research areas, including past and current efforts as well as potential future directions, and will discuss how these activities contribute to safe, scalable, and efficient Advanced Air Mobility operations in complex operational environments.
Bio: Dr. Min Xue is an aerospace research engineer at NASA Ames research center. He earned his Ph.D. in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park. His research at NASA spans a broad range of aviation topics, including modeling, simulation, and algorithm development and analysis for conventional air traffic management, as well as the integration of new entrant vehicle operations into the National Airspace System. He has authored more than 60 journal and conference publications in the field of air transportation research.
Dr. Xue currently serves as the project manager for NASA’s Advanced Air Mobility Pathfinders (AAMP) project, where he leads the development and evaluation of advanced airspace management systems for emerging aerial operations. His work includes leading the development and evaluation of airspace services supporting Advanced Air Mobility (AAM) operations, as well as the Portable Airspace Management System (PAMS), which enables 24-hour beyond-visual-line-of-sight (BVLOS) operations in degraded visual environments for emergency response missions.
Contact John-Paul Clarke (johnpaul@utexas.edu)
