Relativity Space is an American aerospace manufacturing company. Their goal is not to just send rockets to space, but revolutionize entire process of how they are build and flown.
The most innovative thing that Relativity is doing is that they are building their own 3D-printers and using them. They are not just building printers to sell them or designing and buying someone’s printers, they combine both of these aspects.
3D-printing gives a lot of new opportunities. The cost of material to make a single rocket is valued to be 5 to 10 times lower that to make a normal one. This means a lot more expeditions could be made. It is also said by the Relativity that their rockets can be entirely made from raw material to flight in 60 days as normal made rockets take around 2 to 5 years to make. It ‘s a very big step up and can help a lot with testing bigger amount of rockets.
All of the parts for the rockets are printed. Even the engine. Relativity Space developed their own engine called “Aeon”. It use liquid oxygen and liquid natural gas which are the best for rocket propulsion and also eventually in the future, the easiest to make on Mars.
The first 3D-printed rocket “Terran 1” demonstration launch is set for early 2022. In my opinion, if everything will work, this could be a very big step in technology. Exploration of space will become a lot more affordable and faster that ever.
Sources:
https://www.relativityspace.com
https://tcrn.ch/3z9tXmO
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/05/27/relativity-space-3d-printers-are-reinventing-more-than-rockets.html
https://www.chip.pl/2021/07/dopiero-zaczeli-a-juz-sie-rozkrecaja-relativity-space-otwiera-nowa-fabryke/
Awesome article! I really like the way that Relativity Spaces’s method of making these rockets with 3d printers conserves a lot more resources compared to ordinary rockets, and the addition of being able produce these rockets in 60 days is unprecedented. This project seems very promising to me and I hope this method of production is adopted by major space agencies.