2021: A Banner Year for AURA

By Daisy Tong, SVP Design & Communications 

Working in the detail-driven tech trenches every day, you might miss how much actual progress uncrewed aviation made last year. I believe that when historians look back from decades hence, they may well decide 2021 was a sort of Year One for UAS. A small example: Even a few weeks ago, I might have typed the term "unmanned aviation," but the FAA is helping us move toward a more inclusive term, and we salute this positive change.  

So, let's take a moment to realize just how much AURA–along with the industry–has progressed over the past 12 months toward building that future. Of course, for us 2021 came out of the starting blocks quickly. Immediately following the build-out of the first nationwide network last year, the Jan. 14 FCC action granting our waiver helped clear the runway for what came after. By the end of July, we had been appointed to the FAA's rulemaking committee to help create a regulatory pathway for routine BVLOS autonomous flight. We closed our Series A funding of over $30 million only weeks later. 

Last year also brought us two key strategic collaborations. NASA selected AURA as one of only 14 National Campaign partners to demonstrate our communications solution to help empower advanced air mobility, and RTCA approved our request to create a MOPS for command and control avionics links. These are the sort of milestones that build a foundation and illustrate AURA's unique place in the UAS community. 

I actually believe THE industry theme in 2021 was credibility. We saw government agencies remove any lingering doubt that they were accelerating efforts. As a company, AURA was embraced at the highest levels of regulatory architecture while continuing to navigate the hype and science fiction on the way to the workable and the likely. It seems clear, given our recent history, that the theme of 2022 will be expanding collaboration. We will no doubt continue to grow partnerships and gather new ideas, testing concepts along the way. 

For me, 2021 was a year when AURA really progressed with clarity as a company and as a team. Now 2022 offers us a chance to build on all that effort. If last year was a "year one," then '22 can be the year that we–dare I say?–take off.