(CNN) Startup Relativity Space sent what it’s calling “the world’s first 3D-printed rocket” into space on Wednesday, launching it into the upper atmosphere. However, it suffered engine trouble after launch and failed to reach orbit.
Terran 1, a 110-foot-tall (33.5-meter) vehicle designed to carry lightweight satellites into orbital space, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida’s east coast shortly before 11:30 PM ET. The rocket, powered by super-cooled methane and oxygen, burned a brilliant blue-green against the night sky.
After the rocket’s first stage, the lowest part of the rocket that provides the initial thrust for liftoff, ran out of fuel, it separated from the rocket’s upper stage. But the engine meant to propel that part appeared to ignite only briefly, leaving the rocket without enough power to reach orbit.
The mission, dubbed “Good luck, have fun,” lifted off what the company described as a prototype vehicle, along with a piece of metal, the first object printed by Relativity’s massive 3D printer, as a commemorative token. It did not carry any customer satellites, as will be the case with the company’s future rocket launches.
Relativity had aimed to get its rocket off the ground in early March, but two previous launch attempts were scuppered by problems that included getting the booster to cool enough temperatures, bad weather and fuel pressure unsatisfactory
Several hiccups the company faced during its March 11 attempt, including a ship entering a restricted area within the rocket’s path at sea, came late in the countdown. Another dramatic moment during this attempt ended with the rocket’s nine engines firing, only to shut down moments later, leaving Terran 1 on the pad. The company said computers automatically aborted the launch attempt due to a detected software problem.
Before Wednesday event, Relativity co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis had noted in a March 7 Twitter post that he expected the company’s Terran 1 rocket to succeed on its first launch attempt.
“Of course, the rocket-loving engineer in me wants to see the first privately funded, liquid-propellant rocket reach orbit on the first try. That would be truly unprecedented,” he said. to say. he tweeted.
But Ellis acknowledged that even seeing the rocket clear the launch pad would be cause for celebration, and that getting the rocket through Max Q, at the moment it takes the most pressure in flight, about 80 seconds later of take-off, it would be a “key”. turning point”.
The rocket achieved this milestone on Wednesday.
Since 2015, Relativity has worked to develop its first launch vehicle to test the success of its founding thesis: that rockets can be built quickly, cheaply and efficiently using additive manufacturing, also known as 3D printing .
Most rockets today are based on some 3D printed parts, but 85% of Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket is made using this process.
“I started my career as a propulsion engineer working at Jeff Bezos’ company Blue Origin, where I designed and developed rocket engines from a blank sheet of paper,” Ellis told CNN’s Kristin Fisher in an interview earlier this month. “I actually ended up doing the first metal 3D printing at Blue Origin. … I realized that instead of just printing bits and pieces of a rocket, 3D printing was really a whole new approach to manufacturing”.
The company’s factory in Long Beach, California, is different from its competitors. Massive 3D printing machines tucked behind large hangar doors slowly pour metal to form the huge airframes that make up the main body of a rocket.
There are dozens of rocket startups out there, but Relativity has stood out for its ability to raise capital and attract high-profile contracts before making its first launch attempt. Still, the Terran 1 rocket that failed its first launch attempt on Wednesday may not end up being the company’s flagship product.
About $1.65 billion in launch contracts are already on the startup’s books. But those deals are “overwhelmingly for our Terran R reusable rocket,” Ellis said pointed out. Terran R is still in the early stages of development.
The company plans to use the more compact Terran 1 rocket primarily to deploy small satellites that are part of larger constellations, which may require maintenance for technology upgrades or replacement of malfunctioning satellites.
The larger Terran R rocket is expected to be capable of launching about 44,000 pounds (20,000 kilograms) — or 16 times more mass than Terran 1 can handle — into low Earth orbit. That puts Terran R in the “medium-heavy lift” class, which is the same category as the Falcon 9 rockets launched by SpaceX, the most prolific private launch company.
“Medium-heavy lift is clearly where the biggest market opportunity lies for the remaining decade, with a massive launch shortage in this payload class,” Ellis wrote on Twitter.
Relativity has the backing of high-profile investors including Fidelity and BlackRock and a valuation of more than $4 billion, according to startup analytics firm PitchBook.
Ellis also told CNN in February 2022 that he envisions the 3D printers Relativity is developing could be a game-changer for manufacturing in a variety of industries, including aircraft, oil and gas refineries, wind turbines and more. month.
It’s still unclear when or if Relativity will attempt another Terran 1 release.
