Inside Relativity Space’s monster factory 3D-printing reusable rockets

Long Beach, Calif. – It’s been a few days into the new year, and the Relativity Space factory hasn’t been quiet. Giant 3D printers hum and construction sounds blaring.

Nearly eight years after its inception, Relativity continues to grow, seeking new ways to build rockets from mostly 3D-printed structures and components. Relativity believes its approach will allow orbital-class rockets to be built much faster than traditional methods, without the need for thousands of parts and modifications that can be made via software. We aim to create a rocket from raw materials in just 60 days.

The company has raised over $1.3 billion in capital to date and continues to expand its footprint, adding over 150 acres to NASA’s Rocket Engine Test Center in Mississippi. Relativity was named in CNBC’s Disruptor 50 last year.

The company’s first rocket, called Terran 1, is currently in the final stages of preparation for its first launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida. That rocket was built in his 120,000-square-foot factory, The Portal, which the company built in Long Beach.

But earlier this month, CNBC looked inside a “wormhole.” boeing The previously built C-17 aircraft is now where Relativity is building a larger line of machine-filled, reusable Terran R rockets.

“I actually tried to stop this project a few times,” Relativity CEO and co-founder Tim Ellis told CNBC, pointing to one of the company’s newest additive manufacturing machines. rice field. — This is the company’s fourth generation of Stargate printers.

Unlike previous Stargate generations of Relativity, which were printed vertically, the fourth generation, which builds Terran R’s main structure, is printed horizontally. Ellis stressed that the change allows the company’s printers to produce seven times faster than his third-generation printers, and has been tested up to 12 times faster.

“[Printing horizontally] It seems very counterintuitive, but in the end it’s a constant change in the printhead physics that makes it much faster,” says Ellis.

So far, the company has occupied about a third of the cavernous former Boeing facility, and Ellis said Relativity has a Terran R rocket production pace “several times a year.” It is said that there is room to accommodate about 12 printers that can be used.

Heading into 2023, Relativity says it’s focused on getting Terran 1 on track, proving its approach works, and showing “how fast we can advance additive technology.” Mr Ellis said.

“Given the overall economic situation, we are clearly still very far behind and are definitely delivering results,” he added.

Correction: A previous post to this article incorrectly stated the speed at which the company’s 3D printers were tested.