Relativity Space Reveals Details of Larger 3D Printed Rocket Launching from Cape Canaveral

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Ahead of the first fully 3D-printed rocket launch from Cape Canaveral later this year, Relativity Space is revealing new details about its larger Terran R rocket, which could compete with the Falcon 9, SpaceX’s workhorse rocket.

Relativity Space, a Long Beach, California company founded five years ago, is developing the first fully reusable 3D-printed rocket known as the Terran 1. Its first launch is scheduled for later this year from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Launch Complex-16. Relativity has been modernizing the LC-16 for launch over several years and says the launch pad will also be home to the Terran R rocket. Terran means from this earth and was chosen to name the rocket because the materials used to 3D print the hardware are all found on our home planet.

On Tuesday, Relativity announced it had secured $650 million in Series E equity financing, enabling the company to begin scaling production for the Terran R. Some of the funders include well-known celebrities such as Mark Cuban and Jared Leto.

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There is an organic relationship between 3D printing and reusability, and it gives us an unparalleled advantage in designing the best possible fully reusable rocket possible, said Tim Ellis, CEO and co-founder of Relativity Space. Over the past year, we were asked by the market to accelerate the development of our larger launch vehicle, so we knew it was time to double down on our existing plans and scale the Terran R program even faster and achieve large-scale production capabilities faster. to build. .

Terran 1 is a small launch vehicle capable of launching small spacecraft of about 2,000 pounds into low Earth orbit. According to Relativity, Terran R will be able to carry 20 times more cargo than 44,000 pounds.

The Terran R is 216 feet tall and will also be fully reusable and 3D printed. The seven Aeon R engines produce approximately 302,000 pounds of thrust each. The missile fairing is 5 meters wide.

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Compared to the SpaceX Falcon 9, which is 229 feet long with a 5 foot wide fairing and capable of sending more than 50,000 pounds into low Earth orbit, Terran R will be another option for a reusable reusable in the coming years. rocket ship.

Relativity Space was created with the ultimate goal of going to Mars and building a base there with materials found on the red planet.

Along with our first rocket Terran 1, our second product, Terran R, will continue to take advantage of Relativity’s disruptive approach to 3D printing, reduced parts count, improved speed of innovation, flexibility and reliability to bring the next generation of launch vehicles to market. said Ellis. Relativity was founded with the mission to 3D print entire rockets and build humanity’s industrial base on Mars. We were inspired to realize this vision, and believe there must be tens to hundreds of companies working to build humanity’s multiplanetary future on Mars. Scalable, autonomous 3D printing is inevitably required to thrive on Mars, and Terran R is the second product step in a long-term journey that Relativity is planning ahead.

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