Aevum Ravn X, a fully autonomous orbital rocket launching drone

[Astronuc]

TL;DR Summary

Space startup Aevum debuts world’s first fully autonomous orbital rocket launching drone
Aevum aims to provide end-to-end, rapid-response flights to orbit -- and the tech is ready

https://techcrunch.com/2020/12/03/s...ly-autonomous-orbital-rocket-launching-drone/

The Ravn X launch vehicle is 80 feet long and has a 60-foot wingspan, with a total max weight of 55,000 lbs including payload. Seventy percent of the system is fully reusable today, and Skylus says the goal is to iterate on that to the point where 95% of the launch system will be reusable in the relatively near future.

Ravn X’s delivery system is designed for rapid response delivery, and is able to get small satellites to orbit in as little as 180 minutes — with the capability of having it ready to fly and deliver another again fairly shortly after that. It uses traditional jet fuel, the same kind used on commercial airliners, and it can take off and land in “virtually any weather,” according to Skylus. It also takes off and lands on any one-mile stretch of traditional aircraft runway, meaning it can theoretically use just about any active airport in the world as a launch and landing site.

There should be an opportunity for it to use hydrogen as fuel.

 

[mfb]

One of they key defining differences of Aevum relative to other space launch startups is that what they’re presenting isn’t theoretical, or in development

If your system has never launched anything to space it's very much in development. In fact, I don't see any test of the rocket (but that doesn't rule out some tests in private).
Edit: Based on the video they didn't even fly the aircraft yet.

70% -> 95% reusability means recovering the first rocket stage?

I couldn't find any useful information about the rocket on the website, but this external news says 100 kg to sun-synchronous 500 km orbit.

The first launch seems to be scheduled for the third quarter of 2021: News from Sep 2019

24:00 in the video shows the vehicle and some aircraft data - it's a subsonic aircraft, 25 tonnes.
Two liquid-fuel rocket stages using the same engine type.

Edit: Liquid oxygen in the rocket stages. They'll need to build some more infrastructure for that.

 

[glappkaeft]

Edit: Liquid oxygen in the rocket stages. They'll need to build some more infrastructure for that.

There are mobile oxygen plants in standard sized shipping containers but it is a bit odd to avoid RP-1 due to availability problems if you plan to ship oxygen or an oxygen plant around.

ETA: Using Jet-A would also be a problem if they plan first stage reuse, one of the main advantages of RP-1 is that it is formulated to avoid sulfur compounds, aromatics and olefins that causes very nasty deposits due to polymerization and coking in the engines.