Rocket Report: Billionaire backs Scottish spaceport, Relativity bags a bundle

Enlarge / Rocket Lab's Catch of the Day recovery vessel nears the Electron rocket's first stage. (credit: Rocket Lab)

Welcome to Edition 3.24 of the Rocket Report! It's December, and we could see a number of big smallsat launches this month, including from Virgin Orbit and Astra. But in the immediate future, our eyes are on South Texas, where a Starship prototype is due to make a high leap early next week.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don't want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Aevum unveils its Ravn X launch system. Until now, Aevum has largely operated in the background. But now, it's ready to show off some hardware, and it's starting with the "Ravn X" launch system's first stage, Ars reports. This autonomous aircraft and launch vehicle measures 24 meters long and has a wingspan of 18 meters. It has a gross takeoff mass of 25,000kg-massive for an uncrewed aerial vehicle. It will drop a rocket capable of carrying 100kg to Sun-synchronous orbit.

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