Drones An almost 25 meter long drone lands after delivering a number of small drones with deliveries to homes in a nearby big city.
Just three hours later, the vehicle takes off again for its next mission: to return one or more satellites to Earth orbit.
This is the dream of those who are building the world’s largest drone, Ravn X. The drone is developed by the start-up company Aevum, which has signed a contract with the US military authorities.
The giant drone’s maiden voyage is approaching
After many tests on land, the Raven X is scheduled to take off for the first time at the end of 2021.
In 2022, the giant drone will prove its worth when more satellites are launched for the US space force.
Both in size and shape, the Ravn X resembles a fighter jet more than a drone, and at two and a half tons, the drone is in a different weight category than its competitors.
The intention is that this versatile drone can compete with, for example, the SpaceX rockets that are currently at the forefront of the space race and launch satellites at an unprecedented speed.
Raket lift can be used again and again. TRANSLATE
In space launches, the Ravn X is supposed to serve as the first rocket stage. At the maximum flight height of 18,288 meters, a rocket will be released that will be attached to the bottom of the drone. Two rocket stages then carry the cargo, such as a satellite, into low Earth orbit.
The first stage is reusable, just like the powerful missiles it is intended to compete with.
The main advantage of Ravn X, however, is that the drone does not need to take off and land in one of the few spaceports available on Earth, but only requires a conventional landing strip, roughly one and a half kilometers long.
The drone can also launch satellites all year round unlike rockets which need favorable weather.
Another advantage is that the drone uses conventional jet fuel.
Rockets themselves need to accommodate oxygen that is added to the combustion in the engine. Ravn X uses oxygen from the air and thus saves space, weight and money.
In addition, the device will be completely autonomous and will take care of both raising and lowering itself.
Since this aircraft is unmanned, it is possible to start the rocket engines 0.5-1 second after disengagement, but in a manned aircraft you have to wait for distance safety and the missiles therefore lose valuable speed.
After the world’s largest drone has delivered the first satellites into orbit, the idea is to start transporting cargo between places.
In addition to being able to carry up to 264 satellites into orbit, Ravn X can also carry 6.8 tons of cargo.
