Alabama Rocket Startup Aevum Just Unveiled The World's Biggest Drone

 

The Hill: The world's biggest drone debuts, and it weighs nearly 28 tons 

  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.