Since 2015, Relativity has worked toward developing its first launch vehicle to gauge the success of its founding thesis - that rockets can be quickly, cheaply and efficiently built using additive manufacturing, otherwise known as 3D printing. The rocket did successfully achieve that milestone on Wednesday. Isometric view of the final iteration of a seven-ingredient printed dessert. That would be truly unprecedented,” he tweeted.īut Ellis acknowledged that even watching the rocket clear the launchpad would be a cause for celebration, and that getting the rocket through Max Q - the moment it endures the maximum amount of pressure during flight, about 80 seconds after liftoff - would be a “key inflection” point. “Of course, the rocket-loving engineer in me wants to see us be the first privately-funded AND first liquid-propellant rocket to ever reach orbit on the first try. The company said computers automatically aborted the launch attempt because of a detected software issue.īefore Wednesday’s event, Relativity cofounder and CEO Tim Ellis had noted in a March 7 Twitter post that he hoped to see the company’s Terran 1 rocket notch a success on its first launch attempt. Another dramatic moment during that attempt ended with ignition of all nine of the rocket’s engines - but they shut off just moments later, leaving Terran 1 on the pad. Several hiccups the company faced during its March 11 attempt - including a boat entering a restricted area within the rocket’s path at sea - came late in the countdown. Relativity Space's Terran 1 rocket is seen during its third launch attempt of a mission called "GLHF" (Good Luck, Have Fun), from Launch Complex 16 in Cape Canaveral, Florida, on March 22, 2023. Relativity had been aiming to get its rocket off the ground earlier in March, but two prior launch attempts were quashed by issues that included getting the propellant to sufficiently cold temperatures, bad weather, and unsatisfactory fuel pressure. It was not carrying a client satellite, as will be the case with the company’s future rocket launches. The mission, nicknamed “Good Luck, Have Fun,” lofted what the company described as a prototype vehicle, along with a hunk of metal - the first object printed by Relativity’s massive 3D printer - as a commemorative token. But the engine meant to propel that portion appeared to ignite only briefly, leaving the rocket without enough power to reach orbit. The rocket, powered by super-chilled methane and oxygen, burned a bright blue-green against the night sky.Īfter the first stage of the rocket - the bottommost portion of the rocket that gives the initial thrust at liftoff - expended its fuel, it detached from the rocket’s upper stage. Terran 1, a 110-foot-tall (33.5-meter) vehicle designed to haul lightweight satellites into orbital space, lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Florida’s eastern coast at just before 11:30 pm ET. Though, it suffered an engine issue after launch and failed to reach orbit. Startup Relativity Space sent what it’s calling the “world’s first 3D-printed rocket” toward space on Wednesday, vaulting it into the upper reaches of the atmosphere.
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