Just this week, a particular company that is based out of Alabama called Aevum recently unveiled its new Ravn X. The Ravn X is a particular drone that is designed to both carry out as well as launch satellites straight into low-orbit. The company plans to make their vehicles 95% reusable in order to not only cut costs but also to speed up the needed time for flights.
Big drone: Aevum's RavnX
According to an article by Business Insider, the Ravn X weighs about 55,000 pounds when it is carrying out its full payload. This will make it one of the heaviest known unmanned aircraft in existence as of the moment. The drone also stands at about five and a half meters tall and has a wingspan of a massive 18 meters and it now looks like it came straight out of the Macross Plus.
According to the story reported by Engadget, the promise that this drone entails is that it is able to put out a particular payload around low-earth orbit in just approximately three whole hours. This is a fact that Aevum officially claims stating the Ravn X will be able to shorten the lead time needed on satellite launches in the following years all the way to just a couple of months.
What are the biggest drones?
Outside of its known ominous-looking exterior as well as record-setting mass, the known Ravn X is still not as different compared to the other aircraft. This means that it now only needs just 1-mile of runway in order to get the drone in the air. This should allow it to take off from just about any commercial airport. It is also said to use the very same fuel as a normal jet.
Once this said Ravn X is able to get up to a particularly suitable altitude, the known two-stage rocket that it will be carrying will drop straight from its belly which will ignite in only about half of a second. Eventually, Aevum states that 95% of the given launch vehicles will become reusable. To start, however, the vehicles are said to be about 70% reusable. When the new Ravn X will finish its delivery, the drone will simply head straight back to the hanger and land as it prepares for yet another launch.
Read Also: Life on Mars? Researchers Suggest Microbes Might be Found Deep Below the Surface of the Planet
How far can I fly a drone?
Aevum also states that the Ravn X now represents a brand new paradigm of being able to put a rocket straight into space. While the known autonomous aspect of its own approach is quite different, it is said that there are still other companies all working to put rockets straight into space from a certain aircraft.
Virgin Orbit is now one of those companies and though it has yet to be able to accomplish a successful test launch. Ravn X's very first mission will be to attempt to put the known US Space Force's ASLON-45 satellite straight into orbit about some time the following year.
Related Article: Space Junk Thought to be Mysterious Object, Passing by Earth Tomorrow
This article is owned by Tech Times
Written by Urian Buenconsejo
