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
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/