Ravn X
Aevum
Autonomous, runway-launched, reusable unmanned aircraft system (AuLV) for rapid small-satellite delivery to low Earth orbit.
Technical specifications
- Length
- 80 ft (~24.4 m)
- Wingspan
- 60 ft (~18.3 m)
- Height
- 18 ft (~5.5 m)
- Gross takeoff weight
- 55,000 lb (~24,948 kg)
- Reusability
- ~70% reusable at debut, roadmap to 95%
- Fuel
- Jet A (standard aviation fuel)
- Runway requirement
- 1-mile runway
- Support facility
- 8,000 sq ft hangar
- Target cadence
- As fast as every 180 minutes
- Weather availability
- ~96% per year
- First contracted mission
- ASLON-45, U.S. Space Force, 550x550 km orbit at 45° inclination
About
Ravn X is Aevum’s autonomous launch vehicle (AuLV) and, at the time of its December 2020 unveiling, the world’s largest autonomous unmanned aircraft system (UAS) by mass. It implements Aevum’s ‘Autonomous Launch’ architecture: a fully self-flying, self-managing, self-operating system that takes off and lands on a conventional runway like an airplane, eliminating the need for dedicated launch pads, large ground crews, or exotic propellants.
Ravn X carries an expendable upper-stage rocket internally and releases it at altitude to complete the ascent to low Earth orbit. The aircraft itself requires only a one-mile runway and an 8,000 sq ft hangar for turnaround operations, and it burns common Jet A aviation fuel rather than dedicated rocket-grade propellant, which Aevum says gives the system near-airline-like logistics and up to 96% weather availability per year.
The vehicle was designed from the ground up for reusability: roughly 70% of the vehicle was reusable at debut, with a roadmap toward 95% reusability. After releasing its payload rocket, Ravn X returns to Earth and lands autonomously on a runway before taxiing back into its hangar, enabling on-demand scheduling of orbital deliveries as fast as every 180 minutes.
Ravn X’s first contracted mission is ASLON-45 (Agile Small Launch Operational Normalizer-45) for the United States Space Force, flying under the Orbital Services Program-4 (OSP-4) framework to a 550 x 550 km orbit at 45 degrees inclination as a dedicated mission.
Documentation
No public datasheet yet — request the datasheet / ICD from the supplier.