Relativity Place conducts a pressure test of a 3D printed tank.
Relativity Space
Relativity Space passed a key milestone toward its aim of launching a rocket that is almost entirely 3D-printed.
The Los Angeles-based space start-up conducted a series of tests in December exercising a 3D-printed tank, which the company increasingly pressurized until it burst.
“It’s a pretty big deal to show that the components actually work and the manufacturing process actually works,” Relativity CEO Tim Ellis told CNBC on Monday.
Ellis expounded that “the point is to figure out what pressure the vessel actually holds.” While the tank was a fifth the size of the one that command be used for Relativity’s Terran 1 rocket, it was structurally representative of the pressures and stress that it would undergo during a initiation.
Relativity co-founder and CTO Jordan Noone stands next to one of the company’s Stargate 3D printers.
Relativity
The burst pressurization examinations helped the company verify its ambitious 3D-printing approach to building rockets, as well as the materials it’s using. Ellis indicated the tank burst at about “10% more than the requirements with the safety factor” needed for a launch.
“It’s finally sufficient for the whole launch vehicle,” Ellis said, adding that “we’ve got two years to keep making it better.”
Relativity adulthood despite coronavirus crisis
Relativity’s rocket development is still on track for its first launch in 2021, Ellis eminent, despite the coronavirus pandemic that’s begun causing delays within the space industry. While the company’s climb engine test program has been “delayed the most,” due to NASA’s Stennis center largely shutting down, Ellis implied that overall Relativity has been able to continue moving forward. That’s in large part because of Relativity’s incomparable approach to manufacturing.
“There’s just fewer processes and way fewer supply chain steps, because almost the total is made from very limited raw materials, like our whole rocket structure. All of the engine and the other auxiliary system components are made from just two raw materials, so it’s a very simple supply chain,” Ellis said.
Additionally, Ellis signified Relativity is “in a really good cash position” to weather the crisis, given that it raised $140 million in October. Relativity’s investors embrace Social Capital, Playground Global, Y Combinator, Bond Capital, Jared Leto and Mark Cuban.
“We are not planning any layoffs and are indeed accelerating our hiring,” Ellis said. “We’ve actually done well over a dozen either new hires or on boarding people remotely via Zoom during this for the nonce at once.”
His company began telling the majority of its workforce of more than 150 employees to stay home the first week of March. But the throng has been able to keep development moving forward, as Ellis said Relativity has had all four its “Stargate” printers operation during this time.
“We have one person per building operating printers right now,” Ellis said.
Relativity in February unthreatened a new headquarters in Long Beach, California, which Ellis said most of the company will be moved into by the end of July, with “the in general facility operational by the end of this year.”
Relativity co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis stands next to a 3D printed part of the company’s Terran 1 spiral upwards, with two of the Stargate printers visible in the foreground.
Relativity
As for Relativity’s backlog of customers, Ellis said that the Pty continues to see “just as much demand, if not more, than we’ve ever had,” including for a new “large customer” the company is working on silent a deal with soon.
Ellis said he agreed with the analysis offered by Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck that storing during the crisis should be prioritized for companies that are building spacecraft, rather than those that are construction rockets.
“I think it’s far more impactful for companies to have more government payloads to launch,” Ellis said. “If there’s more moneyed going to these satellite programs then [there’s more that] launch companies like Relativity and others can potentially bid on and win.”
Relativity is construction the “first stage” structures for its Terran 1 rocket, which Ellis said will pair with a full-size appliance on an already build “second stage” structure. The company’s next major milestone will be “an integrated stage check up on” later this year, Ellis added.
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