3D printingRocket manufacturer Relativity Space is developing Terran R, a fully reusable launch vehicle whose market positioning is compared with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket.
3D printing-Additive manufacturing has become indispensable.industry3D printingThe advantages in weight reduction and complex design promote the development of a generation of aerospace manufacturing technology. This is why it is not surprising that both young and mature companies are increasingly relying on additive manufacturing technology. Among them, Relativity Space has raised more than 680 million U.S. dollars since its establishment five years ago, and is currently valued at 2.3 billion U.S. dollars.According to the market observation of 3D Science Valley3D printingNot only is it spawning the next generation of rocket technology, it is also spawning a new type of entrepreneurial enterprise!
Reusable by Relativity Space3D printingRocket Terran R is here to experience the new era of aerospace manufacturing that is “changing” with You Gu!
© Independently developed by Relativity Space3D printingequipment
Fully reusable
New technologies break through and challenge limitations
3D printingRocket manufacturer Relativity Space is making another big bet: developing a fully reusable rocket designed to compare the capabilities of SpaceX’s main Falcon 9 rocket. It can be said that Terran R is a “really obvious evolution” of Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket, which is scheduled to launch for the first time later this year.
The illustration illustrates the size difference between the Terran 1 rocket on the left and the planned Terran R rocket.
Interestingly, the Terran 1 rocket and the planned Terran R rocket have the same architecture, the same propellant, the same factory, and the same3D printingAircraft, the same avionics and the same team. And even if Relativity Space releases Terran R, the company plans to retain Terran 1 for a long time to meet the launch of different purposes.
A composite image shows the Falcon 9 rocket booster lifted off and landed near the launch pad a few minutes later.
Terran 1 currently costs US$12 million per launch and is designed to carry a load of 1,250 kilograms to low Earth orbit. This puts Terran 1 in the middle of the US launch market, between Rocket Lab’s Electron and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 in terms of price and features.
The carrying capacity of Terran R will be nearly 20 times that of Terran 1, and the goal of Relativity Space is a rocket capable of launching more than 20,000 kilograms into low earth orbit. SpaceX previously stated that its Falcon 9 rocket can launch 22,800 kilograms. According to SpaceX’s publicity, the launch price of the Falcon 9 rocket is $62 million, and the market estimates that the cost of each rocket launch is about $28 million.
Currently Terran 1 and Terran R rockets have won contracts worth billions of dollars. The Terran 1 contract announced so far by Relativity Space is a binding launch service agreement, which means that customers have to pay a deposit for the rocket.
In the next step, the rocket must be completely reusable… and3D printingIt is helping the rocket break through the performance limit and achieve reusability.
Relativity Space expects Terran R to be “fully reusable.” Currently, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket can be partially reused because the company has landed the first stage (also called the booster) and often retrieves the rocket’s nose cone.However, SpaceX was unable to resume the second phase of Falcon 9. According to the in-depth understanding of 3D Science Valley, a feat of Relativity Space aims to pass3D printingThe second stage of the design and realization of the rocket can be reused, which is impossible with traditional manufacturing technology.
Next, Relativity Space will be able to3D printingMore exotic, traditionally difficult to manufacture materials, so that the reusability of the first and second stages is better.
Technical flexibility brings new manufacturing heights
Relativity Space puts manufacturing focus on3D printingThis means that the company does not need to change or add new equipment to its production line.
As the software changes,3D printingThe machine will build TerranR. The flexibility of this kind of manufacturing is incredible for the traditional manufacturing method through mold forming.
©Relativity Space
Every aerospace manufacturing plant that I walk into today still uses huge fixed fixtures and a very complex supply chain to manufacture products, and it takes many years to develop new products. If you want to make some minor adjustments and changes, you must discard all of them, which is a heavy trade-off for any existing enterprise.
As the 3D Science Valley in “3D printingAs mentioned in the book “Industrial Manufacturing”, the transformation of every enterprise is a very difficult choice. No enterprise can directly “jump” from one mountain to another. This requires a “downhill” and a new “uphill”. “the process of.
For innovative companies like Relativity Space, there is no “downhill” process, and this lightness brings obvious advantages. To create a fully reusable Terran R, Relativity Space looks up to the new “mountain top” with its unique technology and first-mover advantage.
©Relativity Space also conducted advanced tests on the engine, which is an engine with a copper combustion chamber. Relativity Space
At present, Relativity Space has completed hundreds of tests of the Aeon 1 engine that will power Terran 1, and Terran R will use the “new engine called Aeon R” that the company has begun to develop. At present, Relativity Space has also conducted advanced tests on the engine, which is an engine with a copper combustion chamber.
In the near future, Relativity Space plans to launch Terran R from Cape Canaveral, Florida, where the company had previously obtained the Terran 1 launch site.
Relativity Space’s launch pad at LC-16 in Cape Canaveral, Florida is under construction.
Overall, Relativity Space will3D printingThe reusable rocket is regarded as “the inevitable technology needed for mankind to establish a human industrial base on Mars.” This goal is similar to Musk’s dream of “making mankind a multi-planetary species” by establishing settlements on the red planet. And Relativity Space believes that it needs to inspire dozens to hundreds of companies to do this.
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