In just a few years it will be possible to deliver small satellites to low orbit at a steady pace and completely autonomous. This new paradigm of access to space is brought to us by a start-up that you have probably never heard of.
A few days ago the start-up Aevum, based in Alabama (United States) unveiled a launcher like no other:the "Ravn X". Physically, imagine an autonomous drone measuring twenty-four meters long with a wingspan of eighteen meters and a weight of twenty-five tons on takeoff. Its purpose is to release small rockets at altitudes between ten and twenty kilometers which will then be responsible for delivering satellites to low Earth orbit.
It is, you may have noticed, much the same principle as what the company Virgin offers with its LauncherOne, with the difference that it is a a specially modified and flown 747.
Startup Aevum was founded in June 2016 by Jay Skylus, who trained at NASA and several commercial space companies, including Boeing and Firefly Aerospace. His company currently has about 180 full-time employees and has so far conducted five investment fundraising rounds. It is aiming for a first orbital mission next year.
You will have understood it:Aevum proposes here a new paradigm of access to space:the autonomous launch . Unlike ground-based or air-based launch, this one therefore involves a global, self-managed intelligent system capable of delivering payloads from any terrestrial origin to any space destination in low Earth orbit.
Concretely, the autonomous launch architecture will optimize each launch, taking into account several variables such as weather conditions, air traffic, orbital destination, payload weight, ground staff schedules and other logistical processes.
To operate, this autonomous launcher will only need a 1.5 kilometer long runway and a hangar of about 750 square meters.
In parallel, Aevum is also developing a rocket capable of carrying up to 100 kg of payload in a solar-synchronous orbit of about 500 km. This rocket has two liquid fuel engines will therefore be released at an altitude of ten kilometers by the Ravn X autonomous drone-launcher.
With its future fleet of vehicles, Aevum intends to offer precision orbital and "on-demand" deliveries as fast as every 180 minutes, 24/7, and without risk to human life . After making its delivery, each drone launcher will then simply return to Earth, autonomously landing safely on a runway and parking in a hangar. Note that eventually, it is also expected that the Ravn X will be 95% reusable . Finally, these vehicles will use Jet-A fuel, which is available at almost all US airports.
The US military seems very interested in the concept. Lieutenant-Colonel Ryan Rose, head of the small launches and targets division of the Space and Missile Systems Center at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, notably attended the presentation of the vehicle on Thursday, December 3. He also described the company's efforts as "bold" and "innovative".
In fact, Aevum claims to have already signed several launch contracts worth over a billion dollars over the next decade, including one (ASLON-45 mission) with the United States Air Force.
