The company, Aevum, has been awarded more than $1 billion in government contracts.
Story at a glance
* The 80-foot aircraft has a wingspan of 60 feet, stands 18 feet tall and is the world’s largest Unmanned Aircraft (UAS) by mass, weighing 55,000 pounds.
* The aircraft is designed to drop a rocket in midair that launches small satellites into space.
* the aircraft is designed to put satellites into orbit as fast as every 180 minutes.
A private rocket-launch startup unveiled its fully autonomous drone designed to drop a rocket in midair that shoots small satellites into orbit without a launchpad.
Alabama-based company Aevum rolled out its Ravn X Autonomous Launch Vehicle at the Cecil SpacePort launch facility in Jacksonville, Fla., on Thursday.
The 80-foot aircraft has a wingspan of 60 feet, stands 18 feet tall and is the world’s largest Unmanned Aircraft (UAS) by mass, weighing 55,000 pounds.
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Update #1: Aevum unveils smallsat-launching drone aircraft (Space News)
Update #2: Alabama rocket startup Aevum just unveiled the world's biggest drone - a 28-ton autonomous behemoth that may soon rocket US military satellites into orbit (Business Insider)
WNU Editor: Here is an easy prediction. Drones are only going to get bigger.
2 comments:
i hear thunder
This drone should complicate an adversary's ability to knockout our communications.
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