The Filament that is Space Ready

3D printers are really awesome machines that you can do so much on. You can print almost anything that can fit on the build plate. You can print using different materials. You can create new things, or create something to fix something. The possibilities are endless. But today, we aren’t just going to be talking about normal 3D printers. We are going to be talking about Relativity Space, a rocket company that wants to 3D print its rocket parts.

Render of Relativity Space's
Terran 1 Rocket Launching

Relativity Space is an aerospace manufacturing company that was founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone. Headquartered in LA, the company develops and works on manufacturing technology, launch vehicles, and rocket engines. They hope to have commercial orbital launch services like SpaceX and Blue Origin. However, Relativity Space develops its rocket in a very different manner than SpaceX and Blue Origin. Relativity Space is 3D printing their rocket parts. Now, when I say that you might be wondering, how does 3D printing filament survive the extremes of space. The answer is actually really simple: it doesn’t. It 3D prints using metal. To do this, Relativity Space developed Stargate, the world’s largest 3D printer of metals.

Stargate Printing Pieces

Stargate is essentially based on directed energy deposition. Pretty much, it uses a laser beam to melt metal wire and create complex layers using these wires. They have also developed their own metal that they use to print. This alloy is custom-designed to optimize 3D printing and meet mission-critical performance. The alloy also allows every piece to be uniform and allows for mass production of certain parts. Stargate is helping to revolutionize the aerospace industry. The 3D printing process is automated, decreasing build time and iteration time drastically. It also decreases the part count, simplifies the supply chain, and puts a very heavy emphasis on software when manufacturing. Relativity Space’s Stargate factory is located in LA. Using Stargate, Relativity Space is developing Terran 1, an expendable launch vehicle.

Terran 1

Terran 1 is hoping to become a major competitor in the commercial launch market. To do this, Relativity Space wants to consistently build Terran 1 from raw materials to flight-ready rockets in less than 60 days. Terran 1 also uses much fewer parts than traditional rockets. For example, most competitors' rockets, like SpaceX’s Falcon 9 have more than 60,000 total components. Compare that with Relativity Space’s Terran 1, which has 733 components. Terran 1 also uses machine learning to improve aspects of rocket manufacturing, including reducing touchpoints from the Stargate printer, simplifying the supply chain, and making the system very reliable. Terran 1 is still similar to commercial rockets today. Terran 1 is a two-stage rocket with a payload maximum of 1250 kg at LEO. The Terran 1 is even able to launch payloads at SSO (Sun Synchronous Orbit), which is 800 km away from the Earth. Terran 1 is also very unique. The launch cost for the Terran 1 is very low, at $12 million. Compare this to SpaceX’s $90 million. Terran 1 is also an expendable launch vehicle. This means that the rocket can only be used for one launch and then is not used ever again. This helps to keep launch costs low and allows for Terran 1 to go farther away without any repercussions. However, Terran 1’s nine Aeon 1 rocket engines help to propel the rocket to new heights.

Aeon Rocket Engine

The Aeon 1 rocket engine is helping to simplify rocketry. Like Terran 1, it is using fewer parts than traditional rocket engines. Additionally, the Aeon 1 rockets have production times of 15 days, which is 165 days shorter than production times for traditional rocket engines. The Aeon 1 is able to produce 15,500 pounds of thrust at sea level and 25,400 pounds of thrust in a vacuum. For its fuel, the Aeon 1 uses Liquid Natural Gas and uses Liquid Oxygen as its oxidizer. For the ignition, the Aeon 1 uses a gas-gas torch. Currently, the Aeon 1 has completed over 300 test fires at Relativity Space’s E-3 test facility in NASA’s Stennis Center.

Hearing this, you may be wondering why Relativity Space is testing their rocket engine in a NASA center. That's because NASA helped to fund Relativity Space, by giving them money and testing facilities. This is because NASA was shifting to developing SLS (Space Launch System) and wanted more routine space flights to be developed by private companies. Currently, Relativity Space has facilities all over the United States. This includes engineering factories in LA and Long Beach, testing facilities in Mississippi, and Launch Sites in Kennedy Space Center and Vandenberg Air Force Base.

Stargate Printers Factory in LA

Relativity Space is currently working on multiple projects. One project is Terran R: a reusable launch vehicle. It will be a direct competitor of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket. It will be able to have a max payload of 20,000 kg in LEO. Additionally, Relativity Space hopes to launch its first Terran 1 rocket in the fall of 2021. The initial launch was supposed to happen in 2020 but was pushed back due to COVID-19. But Relativity Space is already emerging as a direct competitor to SpaceX. They have already signed a multitude of launch contracts from big names and are currently valued at $2.3 billion. While that currently isn’t close to SpaceX, which is sitting at a cool $44 billion, Relativity Space is turning some heads. If their Terran 1 launch and development of Terran R is successful, Relativity Space could get contracts for the Artemis and missions to Mars. Only time will tell if Relativity Space will be a relevant competitor in the commercial launch industry.

Render of Terran 1 Rocket at Launch Complex 16 in KSC

Sources:

“EXPANDING THE POSSIBILITIES FOR HUMAN EXPERIENCE.” Relativity Space, www.relativityspace.com/mission. 

Howell, Elizabeth. “Relativity Space Readies for Its First Launch of 3D-Printed Rocket Later This Year.” Space.com, Space, 24 Feb. 2021, www.space.com/relativity-space-first-3d-printed-rocket-launch-2021. 

“Relativity Space.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 25 Feb. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativity_Space. 

“Sun-Synchronous Orbit.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 27 Jan. 2021, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sun-synchronous_orbit.