This would be the first-ever flight for the buzzy startup, in a mission it’s calling “Good Luck, Have Fun.” Even though Terran 1 was only tested on the ground by executives, they are confident it will orbit. This is something no commercial company has attempted before.
If successful, it would be the first rocket that is almost entirely 3D printed to reach orbit, and the first to get there on methane fuel — innovations the company says could dramatically reduce production cost and boost the reusability of its future vehicles.
Chief Executive Officer Tim Ellis said in an interview that Relativity wants to prove its 3D-printed vehicle can handle Max Q — a moment during the first few minutes of flight when the rocket experiences the maximum amount of forces and stress.
The ground test “actually does technically prove it, and the engineering proves it,” said Ellis, a former engineer at Blue Origin LLC who co-founded Relativity in 2016. “But I think doing it in flight is definitely a lot more visceral and a lot more exciting to the world to see.”
The “Good Luck, Have Fun” test mission is set to launch between 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. local time on Wednesday.
The Long Beach-based company has generated a lot of buzz without ever having to launch a rocket. Relativity was last valued at $4.2billion in June 2021 and has raised more than $1.3 billion. It’s also secured various partnerships with NASA to use the agency’s facilities for engine testing. The company claims to have invented the world’s largest metal 3D printer to create its vehicles and says it’s already sold future Terran 1 trips, priced at roughly $12 million per flight.
Relativity plans to scale up its Terran 1 into the Terran R commercial workhorse, which will be announced in 2021. That rocket would be able to carry as much as 20,000 kilograms, or 44,000 pounds, and is aimed at competing against other heavy hitters like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. Ellis indicated that Terran R launch contracts have been signed by Relativity for a total $1.7 billion.
The company stated that Terran 1 was capable of carrying up to 1,250 kilograms to low earth orbit.
Grand Ambitions
Relativity can 3D print most of its rockets. This allows for greater flexibility in design and labor cost, while also reducing the overall cost of the vehicle.
According to the company, Terran 1’s 85% is 3D printed. Ellis stated that almost all visible parts of Terran 1 are 3D printed. This includes the nose cone, rocket body, internal propellant tanks, and most of the Aeon engines. However, electrical circuits and computers as well as movable parts such as rubber seals are not 3D printed.
Some people don’t see the need to create a fully 3D printed rocket. Peter Beck, the CEO of Rocket Lab USA Inc., has said there’s “zero sense” in making simple traditional structures for rockets with 3D printing.
“3D printing is incredible for highly complex parts, generally when multiple parts have been combined into one,” Beck said in a tweet last month. “This is when real savings are made.”
Ellis said Relativity’s goal is to eventually create a rocket that is 95% 3D-printed.
As a nod to how far the company’s 3D printing technology has come, the rocket will be carrying Relativity’s first failed 3D printed part, from nearly six and a half years ago. “We actually found the part in a pelican case, dug it out from the factory, and I’ve been saving it the whole time,” Ellis said. “I thought that would be something very cool to send on the first rocket.”
Future of Methane
If Relativity is able to achieve orbit on this launch, it’ll be the first time a rocket running on methane has done so.
LandSpace, a Chinese company was on track to take the title. But it failed its first test launch. Other next-generation vehicles like Space Exploration Technologies Corp.’s Starship rocket and United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan use methane engines but have yet to launch to space.
Though methane is less efficient than the alternative hydrogen, meaning it requires more propellant to achieve the same amount of thrust, it’s become a popular rocket fuel choice because it doesn’t need to be as cold to operate, requiring less complex machinery. It’s also less prone to leakage, since hydrogen is a much smaller molecule.
“Hydrogen fuel rocket engines are like the Ferraris of the rocket engine,” said Martin Ross, an atmospheric scientist at the nonprofit Aerospace Corp. “They’re very complex, difficult to manufacture, difficult to reuse. But they’ve got great performance.”
The greatest benefit of methane, aside from its cleaner burning, is the fact that it produces less soot than kerosene. This results in less waste and less engine cleaning, which makes it easier to reuse. That’s important for Relativity as it wants to make the Terran R fully reusable, with plans to land the vehicle propulsively after launch, as SpaceX does. Wednesday’s launch of Terran 1 is not a reusable rocket.
“I think any serious rocket company that is really pursuing reuse is using [methane] Ellis stated, “At this point,”
SpaceX and Relativity both said they wanted to build Mars industrial bases, partly for the promise that methane fuel can be made by separating the Martian atmosphere. That way a rocket bound for the Red Planet doesn’t need to bring all of the fuel for the return journey home. Ross stated that methane can be synthesized more easily here than kerosene.
“You have to pull it out of the ground and refine it to get rocket-grade kerosene,” Ross said. “But methane is so simple. It is possible to make it in the lab and in a factory, presumably using renewable electricity. With methane, we can move to a system where rocket fuels will be sustainable.
First, Methane must be able to launch a rocket into space. Ellis, while cautious, is optimistic about Relativity’s chances to reach orbit. “I think there’s a real shot that we do actually achieve that,” he said. “This is not a kind of prototype rocket or a development rocket; this is an honest-to-god orbital class rocket that could make it.”
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