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Relativity Space

#1
Yazata Offline
Relativity Space is another one of the "new space" companies like SpaceX, Rocketlab, Astra and Blue. Based in Long Beach California, they have yet to put anything in space, but unlike some of the start-up companies they are more than just talk. They have more than 400 employees and have raised something like $1.34 billion in private equity funding. They have been granted use of SLC ('slick') 16 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, as well as another pad at Vandenberg. They have an agreement with nasa for rocket engine development at Stennis Spaceflight Center.

And Relativity Space has just announced an ambitious plan to move into the SpaceX space. This is a fully reusable rocket called the Terran-R that is somewhat larger than the Falcon 9 and has about 30% more payload. Its first stage even resembles the Falcon 9 complete with grid-fins. But that's where its resemblance to the Falcon 9 ends. It's actually more of a mini-Starship. (Though "mini" is relative, this is a large rocket. 216 ft tall, 16 ft wide, each a little more than half Starship.) The second stage is a reusable spaceship capable of orbital reentries and propulsive landings. Exactly how they propose to do that is still unknown. (Crazy-Elon "flip-n-burns" or something else?) They envision a similar range of missions for this smaller Starship, from orbital to Moon and interplanetary missions. Like Starship it will be powered by liquid methane and LOX.

An innovation is that they say that there's no conventional tooling in their factory, just 3-D printers. So major design changes just require a change in software. (It's not as outlandish as it sounds. Rocketlab 3-D prints their rocket engines.) Reportedly they already have a prototype second stage nearing completion which they intend to ship to Stennis for hotfire testing. Other reports say Terran-R should be flying in 2024.

I like the idea of multiple companies doing exciting and innovative things. It's just wrong to have the future of humanity in space in one man's hands, even if it's Elon. We need a space-race to force the pace and drive innovation. Relativity Space might actually become the #2 new space company unless Blue can rouse itself and take its hands out of its deep pockets. Terran-R remains just the second fully reusable spacecraft currently in work.

https://arstechnica.com/science/2021/06/...buying-it/


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/9BhkjEc6Q64


[Image: E3XKad1XwAAvfx9?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]
[Image: E3XKad1XwAAvfx9?format=jpg&name=4096x4096]

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#2
Yazata Offline
Before they fly their big Terran-R (roughly a similar payload to Falcon 9, but fully reusable like Starship), Relativity Space plans to start flying their smaller Terran-1 to prove out their manufacturing and design concepts. (Relativity Space's rockets are almost entirely 3-D printed.) This will be a small expendible satellite launcher with a payload of about one ton. They already have contracts to launch satellites with it.

The plan seems to be to test launch the first Terran-1 in the next month or two.

Terran 1 recently underwent a successful hot-fire test of their 3-D printed engines. (A cascade of stuff falling off is visible, but it's just ice.)

https://twitter.com/relativityspace/stat...1802953728

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terran_1
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#3
Yazata Offline
Looks like Relativity Space has plans to use their future Terran-R rocket to get to Mars before SpaceX. They are shooting for 2024, but that's certain to slip. Unlike Starship which will be able to transport at least 50 people to the red planet, this will be an uncrewed lander. Relativity is teaming up with another "new space" company called Impulse Space who will build the lander.

The idea is for a Terran-R to put the lander and a "cruise vehicle" on course for Mars. The cruise vehicle will perform course corrections and put the lander on an entry trajectory. The lander will decelerate using a heat shield and then a parachute. When the parachute is at terminal velocity (still supersonic in Mars' thin atmosphere) the lander will detach and fall freely, before it performs a propulsive landing. 

I believe that so far, only the US and China have succeeded in landing on Mars in one piece. Russia and Europe have tried, but without success. If a couple of spunky little space start-ups can come together to do it, that will be big. (Especially using a fully-reusable Falcon-9 class rocket.)

https://www.impulsespace.com/mars


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/uuL7iYUNg6o
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#4
Yazata Offline
Relativity Space is cooking with gas.

20 second static fire of their methane powered Terran 1 rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. They want this to be the first liquid methand/Lox rocket to reach orbit, and it doesn't look like anyone else is going to catch them. You can see the engines gimbaling.

https://twitter.com/thetimellis/status/1...4741808129
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#5
C C Offline
(Aug 23, 2022 03:27 AM)Yazata Wrote: Relativity Space is cooking with gas.

20 second static fire of their methane powered Terran 1 rocket on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. They want this to be the first liquid methand/Lox rocket to reach orbit, and it doesn't look like anyone else is going to catch them. You can see the engines gimbaling.

https://twitter.com/thetimellis/status/1...4741808129

Meanwhile, SpaceX truly requiring this long to finally test Starship with the first stage booster -- or just drawing it out because there are still weeks to go to satisfy all the FFA demands for protecting the Boca Chica environment? China might even beat them with a copycat, rip-off version if this keeps dragging...
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#6
Yazata Offline
(Aug 23, 2022 04:20 AM)C C Wrote: Meanwhile, SpaceX truly requiring this long to finally test Starship with the first stage booster -- or just drawing it out because there are still weeks to go to satisfy all the FFA demands for protecting the Boca Chica environment? China might even beat them with a copycat, rip-off version if this keeps dragging...

The FAA is the hang up at this point. Starship can't legally launch without a launch license.

My guess is that Elon isn't the most popular guy in Washington DC right now. SpaceX (and Tesla) are non-union. Elon has said that he's defecting to the Republicans and has had nice things to say about Ron DeSantis. There was that "Senator Karen" thing with Elizabeth Warren.

So I expect that the regulatory "deep state" would love to make things as hard as they can on our poor Elon.
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#7
Yazata Offline
Relativity Space has just announced a 150 acre expansion to their manufacturing and test facility at NASA Stennis in Mississippi (the NASA rocket engine development facility), for engines for their upcoming Terran-R rocket.

https://www.relativityspace.com/press-re...facilities
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#9
Yazata Offline
Relativity Space is still on for tomorrow, March 8

https://twitter.com/relativityspace/stat...9935007764

They say that their goals tomorrow are to

1. Prove that a 3-D printed rocket can survive the stresses of launch, thus showing that 3-D printing is a valid way to manufacture space vehicles.

2. Gather data, data and more data. Data is to engineers what sex is to other people.

3. Show future customers that Terran-1 works. (I believe that they already have contracts for customers to fly satellites on it.)
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#10
Yazata Offline
They were in a hold due to propellant loading issues, but clock is counting down again. Launch now scheduled for 14:00 Eastern (11:00 Pacific) from SLC 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station


https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/_YAlOGZM32U

Holding again at t-24 minutes - apparently a problem with "propellant conditioning"

T-0 is now 14:40 Eastern (11:40 Pacific)
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