Will Relativity Aerospace be the next SpaceX?

Although the Terran-1 rocket failed in its first flight, Relativity Aerospace successfully verified the feasibility of using 3D printing technology on large rocket structures. This subversion of the previous manufacturing model, coupled with the first-stage reusable Terran-R rocket plan and the vision and goal of colonizing Mars, has made Relativity Aerospace, as a company with a strong spirit of exploration and innovative vitality, increasingly attract attention.

The best among small rocket startups

Relativity Aerospace was co-founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone, who serve as the company's CEO and CTO respectively. The two met in college and later worked at Blue Origin and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) respectively. During their work, they both discovered the bottlenecks of traditional manufacturing and the potential of emerging technologies such as 3D printing and automation, and finally decided to establish Relativity Aerospace. Similar to Space Exploration Technologies, Relativity Aerospace hopes to use 3D printed launch vehicles and Mars in-situ manufacturing solutions based on 3D printing technology to realize the vision of Mars immigration.

Conceptual image of the Wormhole Headquarters

Relativity Aerospace is headquartered in Long Beach, California, USA, and uses a name with a distinct sci-fi color - "The Wormhole". The facility was previously Boeing's C-17 transport aircraft manufacturing plant and covers an area of ​​about 1 million square meters. After the reconstruction of Relativity Aerospace, the facility includes metallurgical laboratories, powder bed fusion printers, mission control centers and dozens of "Stargate" printers, all of which will be used to support the development and production of Terran-R rockets. In addition, the company has a mature Terran-1 rocket manufacturing plant code-named "Portal" in Long Beach. It has relatively complete engine manufacturing and testing facilities at NASA's Stennis Space Center and is expanding its scale. It has obtained the right to use launch stations from the US military on both the east and west coasts of the United States. The above facilities can support the company's business scope from rocket development to launch services.

As of the beginning of 2023, Relativity Aerospace has completed eight rounds of financing, with a total of 54 companies participating in the investment, with a total financing amount of US$1.3 billion. In particular, after the announcement of the Terran-R reused rocket in 2021, it received US$650 million in Series E financing, and the company's valuation reached US$4.2 billion. Compared with small rocket startups such as "Rocket Lab", "Virgin Orbit", "Astra", "Firefly Aerospace" and "ABL", although the first flight time is later, because the company's rocket uses full 3D printing manufacturing technology and proposes a reusable Terran-R rocket with a sub-stage, the solution is more innovative and has a grand vision of aiming at the colonization of Mars, it is more favored by capital and has become the small rocket startup with the highest amount of financing. It is also the rocket company with the most financing except SpaceX.

The rapid development of Relativity Aerospace has a lot to do with the US investment environment, which allows companies to take risks and innovate. In a report in February, the Financial Times mentioned the differences between US and European venture capital: the US venture capital base is large and is more inclined to "wealth creation", while the European venture capital base is relatively small and tends to "wealth preservation". Therefore, US venture capital is more willing to invest in high-risk, high-return technology innovations (such as rocket research and development).

Basic research and development capabilities have been strengthened and improved

Against the backdrop of the US government's encouragement of the development of commercial space, Relativity Aerospace has greatly enhanced its basic research and development capabilities with the help of the military and NASA.

The military provided Relativity Aerospace with launch facilities. In January 2019, Relativity Aerospace reached a five-year use agreement with the U.S. Air Force to transform and use the LC-16 launch station at Cape Canaveral to launch the Terran-1 rocket, and the Air Force provided it with basic launch site capabilities. In 2020, Relativity Aerospace obtained the right to use the B330 facility at the Vandenberg Space Force Base on the west coast of the United States from the Air Force for future sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) launch missions. Currently, Relativity Aerospace has improved and refurbished the LC-16 station for the launch of the Terran-1 rocket.

Schematic diagram of the LC-16 launch station layout

Under the Space Agreement Act (SAA) between Relativity Aerospace and NASA, Kennedy Space Center, Stennis Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center all provide technology, facilities and capabilities to Relativity Aerospace.

Between 2016 and 2022, Relativity Aerospace signed several agreements with the Stennis Space Center. On the one hand, the center will assist Relativity Aerospace in completing the research and development, design and manufacturing of rocket engines; on the other hand, it will lease several engine test benches and facilities of the center to the company for the construction of Terran-R rocket test facilities and engine assembly plant. The construction plan is shown in the figure below.

In August 2019, Relativity Aerospace signed an SAA agreement with the Kennedy Space Center, under which the Kennedy Space Center will provide support for Relativity Aerospace in launching rocket tests, ground equipment materials and components, and assisting in engineering analysis of test results. In September 2020, Relativity Aerospace signed an SAA agreement with NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, under which the center will assist Relativity Aerospace in rocket engine design, record rocket engine development, test engine-related components, and collect test results of key rocket engine technologies.

Biden visits Relativity Aerospace's 3D-printed parts in 2022

In 2022, when visiting the industrial sector’s achievements in additive manufacturing before launching the “Additive Manufacturing Forward” supply chain initiative, U.S. President Biden stopped to watch Relativity Aerospace’s 3D-printed engine combustion chamber. Although not as high-profile as former U.S. President Obama’s visit to Cape Canaveral’s launch facility with Elon Musk in 2015, it shows that the U.S. government regards emerging commercial aerospace companies as a magic weapon and continues to strengthen its attitude of encouragement.

Continue the concept of rapid iteration

The company's founder came from Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, so there are many similarities with Space Exploration Technologies Corporation in culture and philosophy, and the most important point is the "rapid iteration" development model. The Eternal-1 engine started testing in 2017, and has completed more than 2,000 ground tests, continuously improving and optimizing the design; the design of the Terran-1 rocket is also constantly iterating. For example, the diameter of its fairing was originally 3 meters, and the diameter of the fairing of the first flight configuration is the same as the diameter of the rocket body, which is 2.3 meters; the "Stargate" 3D printer has developed to the fourth generation; the engine of the Terran-R reuse rocket will first be applied and verified by the Terran-1 rocket. The 3D printing technology used by Relativity Aerospace is just in line with the needs of rapid iteration in rocket development. During the development process, 3D printing technology can complete the manufacture of parts or prototypes faster and at a lower cost, allowing more rounds of solution optimization and verification, which has great advantages over traditional manufacturing methods.

After the first flight mission has initially verified the 3D printing technology, Relativity Aerospace will likely further accelerate the development of Terran-R based on the above advantages, and quickly transform from a small rocket to a main large and medium-sized launch vehicle, similar to the path of SpaceX from Falcon 1 to Falcon 9. If a breakthrough can be made in the Terran-R reuse rocket, it is likely to become an important force among many emerging commercial aerospace companies.

Schematic diagram of Relativity Aerospace's planned layout at the Stennis Space Center

First of all, the application of 3D printing technology in launch vehicles is gradually expanding, which may subvert the original production and manufacturing model. The most prominent feature of 3D printing technology is to transform digital product design into finished products in a short time, greatly shortening the delivery cycle. The application of 3D printing technology is also expected to break through the barriers of traditional technology in production. By using 3D printing technology combined with artificial intelligence, machine learning, digital technology, and simulation technology, it can meet the production needs of complex parts and solve the manufacturing problems from design, materials, and processes. However, 3D printing is mainly used for small and complex parts on rockets, such as engine injectors, to greatly reduce the number of parts, while Relativity Aerospace is the first to apply it to large rocket body structures. The first flight of the Terran-1 rocket initially proved the feasibility of 3D printing the overall structure of the rocket, but further verification is needed to enrich the application cases and eliminate various potential risks. Whether Relativity Aerospace can seize the opportunity and become the next space exploration technology company will largely depend on the application level and effect of its 3D printing technology.

Secondly, judging from the failure of the first flight of "Terran-1", there have been more and more failures of small rockets in recent years, and future development faces greater challenges. Since 2022, there have been 12 rocket launch failures worldwide (including 1 partial success), 11 of which were small launch vehicles, especially products of small rocket startups. For example, in the first three months of this year, the RS-1 small rocket of ABL in the United States, the Launcher-1 air-launched rocket of "Virgin Orbit" and the "Terran-1" of Relativity Aerospace failed one after another. These startups were originally created to meet the needs of the rapid development of small satellites, but in the face of competition from the "Falcon 9" carpool launch, these small rockets do not have an advantage in price, and the launch frequency fails frequently, and the reliability is far less than that of the main rocket. Therefore, whether the business logic of these startups can be closed is largely questionable, and the stock prices of many listed small rocket companies have continued to fall, which also shows that the model of small rockets launching small satellites has not been recognized by the market. Therefore, more and more small rocket companies have begun to transform and exert their strength on the main large and medium-sized rockets, and small rockets are more likely to serve as test fields to achieve the initial accumulation of technology and capabilities.

Finally, the rapid development of America's emerging commercial space force today is largely due to government support and the deep technical foundation accumulated by U.S. space agencies through decades of continuous investment and research in major projects such as the Apollo program, the space shuttle program, and reusable launch vehicles, even including the various setbacks encountered. These factors have together contributed to a large enough industrial scale and a high enough level of technological capabilities in the United States, which did not happen overnight.

In addition, the US capital environment tends to favor venture capital and has a high tolerance for failure, which further promotes an environment for innovative development. Therefore, other aerospace countries and regions, including Europe, cannot directly learn from the US model and need to formulate a practical and reasonable development route based on their own characteristics. (Author: Yang Kai Wang Lin)

This article originally appeared in Space Exploration magazine, Issue 6, 2023

Source: Space Exploration Magazine