Relativity Space Is Taking on SpaceX With 3D-Printed Rockets – Business Insider

In 2015, two former Blue Origin and SpaceX employees set out to form a startup with the borderline outrageous goal of 3D printing rockets and eventually using the technology to help colonize Mars.

Today, Relativity Space is the world's second most valuable private space company behind Elon Musk's SpaceX, despite not having launched a single rocket.

Relativity, cofounded by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone, has raised more than $1.3 billion with backing from investors including Mark Cuban and Jared Leto, has an estimated valuation of $4.2 billion, a 1 million square-foot headquarters in Long Beach, and more than 700 employees. Ellis formerly worked in Blue Origin's metal 3D printing division. Noone worked on SpaceX's Dragon spaceships and engines.

Mark Cuban was an early investor in Relativity, agreeing to entirely fund the startup's $500,000 seed round after Ellis and Noone cold emailed him. Other investors include Y Combinator, Social Capital, Fidelity, and Tiger Global.

Ellis told Insider in 2018 that he believes 3D printing will be crucial for an interplanetary future where humans can live on Mars. That means going big: Relativity's says its Stargate 3D printers are the largest in the world, and have controls driven by artificial intelligence. The startup has made two rockets named Terran 1 and Terran R almost entirely by 3D printing.

The tech also known as additive manufacturing isn't new to the industry: Many companies 3D print individual parts of their aircraft. But Relativity is the first to build the majority roughly 95% of its vehicles using the method. It drastically limits the number of parts it needs, and is a boon for speed. Relativity says it can build a rocket in 60 days, compared to the average time of a year to 18 months.

The first test launch of Terran 1 is expected to take place within the next few months from Cape Canaveral in Florida, after being delayed from a planned launch in late 2021. A Relativity spokesperson told TechCrunch last August that there was "no one single reason" the launch was delayed, but noted the pandemic has slowed some processes. It will be the first-ever launch of a 3D printed rocket, and Ellis told Space.com in January that the rocket is the largest metal 3D printed object ever.

Terran R, which Relativity announced in June 2021, is designed to be fully reusable, carry larger payloads than Terran 1, and compete with Space X's Falcon 9 rockets. It's expected to start launching from Cape Canaveral as soon as 2024. Once the business is up and running, Relativity plans to charge its customers roughly $12 million per launch. SpaceX currently charges $62 million per launch of the Falcon 9 rockets, though Elon Musk recently said the company's Starship reusable rockets will cost less than $10 million within two to three years.

When asked where he sees the startup in five years, Josh Brost, Relativity's vice president of business development, said the company will be hyper-focused on becoming a top rocket launch company, but hinted that the Stargate printers could eventually be used to make things other than rockets.

"I think long-term there's tremendous opportunities to use this manufacturing tech to make other products better in addition to rockets," he said.

David Giger, Relativity's vice president of engineering, told Insider that, in the future, he hopes to see other startups getting into the 3D print manufacturing space.

"I think it's necessary for society to move in this direction," he said. "If you look at traditional production facilities that have millions and millions of dollars invested into CapEx and equipment that can only make one product and it can't be changed without very high expense, I think we need to move away from that approach and have a much more versatile manufacturing process."

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Relativity Space Is Taking on SpaceX With 3D-Printed Rockets - Business Insider