Relativity postpones Florida launch of 3D-printed Terran rocket

Cape Canaveral March 9 (BNA): California-based Relativity Space canceled the planned launch of its 3D-printed rocket in Florida on Wednesday due to concerns about fuel temperature, delaying a key test of the company’s new strategy to cut manufacturing costs. .

The 110-foot (35-meter) Terran 1 rocket, 85 percent of which is made from a 3D printer, was scheduled to lift off from the US Space Force’s launch pad at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday afternoon. The company said on Twitter that the diminishing of “thrust thermal conditions” in the rocket’s second stage during a three-hour launch period eventually resulted in the scrubbing action.
The company said the next launch attempt for the rocket is scheduled for Saturday in a window from 1 p.m. to 4 p.m. EST (1800 to 2100 GMT), according to Reuters.

The inaugural Terran 1 launch aims to validate the company’s assumption that its 3D-printed rocket structure can withstand the forces of a launch from Earth.

“The launch we’re preparing is an opportunity to show a whole bunch of things at once,” Josh Prost, Relativity’s senior vice president of revenue, told Reuters ahead of the planned launch attempt. Brost called Terran 1 “the largest 3D-printed chassis ever assembled.”

The 3D printing process, widely used in many industries, involves machines that independently print serial layers of soft, liquid, or powdery materials that are rapidly solidified or fused to form solid, three-dimensional objects. Object designs are scanned from digital blueprints.

Using 3D printers allows Relativity to speed up much of its manufacturing process and more easily make changes to improve the missile design if needed after it has flown, Prost said, eliminating the need for a complex supply chain that would slow down rocket boosters. .

“It is known that the first launches of new missiles are subject to various reasons that make them need to be cleaned,” Prost said. “So it wouldn’t be at all improbable for us to even need two attempts to pass the countdown and go for our inaugural launch.”

While the expendable Terran 1 was built to carry 2,755 pounds (1,250 kg) of satellites into low Earth orbit, declining demand for that class of launch vehicle has led Relativity to develop a larger, 3D-printed reusable rocket — the Terran R — that it expects. to fly in 2024.

The demand is currently driving so-called massive constellation plans by companies like SpaceX, OneWeb and Jeff Bezos’ Amazon (AMZN.O) to deploy tens of thousands of internet-broadcasting satellites into low Earth orbit in the next few years.

Relativity has approximately $1.65 billion in secured launch contracts for both missiles, with the bulk of that revenue attributed to the larger Terran R.

WWA