Relativity Space prints the entire rocket
In the aerospace industry, many new companies are created annually, however, among them is the Relativity Space. The company, led by two young entrepreneurs who previously worked for Blue Origin and SpaceX, is committed to producing rockets created using additive technologies, reducing the number of parts in an orbital rocket from 100,000 to less than 1,000.
In the foreground on the left is a printed test sample.
Founded at the end of 2015, Relativity remained hidden until last year, but now it is beginning to emerge from the shadows. And while the Californian company reveals its ambitious plans. One day, the company intends to print a rocket on Mars to return to Earth. “We have a rather broad long-term vision,” admitted Tim Ellis, one of the founders of Relativity, in an interview with Ars Technica.
Before the company reaches Mars, Relativity Space must first successfully build rockets on Earth. Ellis said that Relativity has made significant progress towards this goal, having already stamped out the engine components for test burns. To date, the company has completed more than 85 fire tests for engines of various types.
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Relativity Space announced on Wednesday that it had signed a 20-year partnership with NASA's Stennis Space Center (NASA SSC) for the exclusive lease of a 25-acre E4 test facility in Southern Mississippi. The four test booths within the complex will allow Relativity to develop and test enough engines to assemble 36 rockets a year, and the agreement includes the ability for the company to eventually expand to 250 acres.
Test site at the E4 NASA SSC complex.
Ellis said that this is the first commercial space agreement signed with the Stennis Space Center - according to these agreements, NASA-related objects can be used by the private sector. Kennedy Space Center used similar agreements, such as a deal, allowing SpaceX to use the Launch Complex-39A. This agreement allows Relativity to be tested 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Ellis said. The company estimates a partnership of 30 million dollars.
Unlike SpaceX, which built new engine test facilities in McGregor, Texas or Blue Origin, which has a test site in West Texas, Ellis said he was aiming for a partnership with NASA to avoid such infrastructure costs. “With this partnership, we really do not need to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “Since we have the right to use the test complex exclusively, we don’t need to ask for permissions when we want to test something.”
Relativity Space is far advanced in the development of the Aeon 1 rocket engine, which uses a mixture of oxygen and methane. The Aeon engine has modest thrust in a vacuum of about 19,500 pounds, which is less than 10% of the Merlin 1D engine used in the Falcon 9 rocket. However, it is almost four times more powerful than the smaller Rutherford engines that run on the Rocket Lab Electron. size.
Aeon engine test
The main thing in the Aeon engine is not so much its performance, as the lack of complexity in manufacturing. Ellis said that the engine can be printed in less than 20 days, which speeds up the development and testing cycle. In addition, the Aeon engine has a total of 100 parts, compared with several thousand for most other engines.
Stargate is the largest metal metal printer developed by Relativity Space.
The Terran rocket will soon come out of the laboratory walls and rush into orbit, bringing the beginning of commercial exploitation. For its first rocket, the Relativity plans to combine nine Aeon engines in the first stage with one engine in the upper stage, which is already becoming the standard. The Terran PH is aimed at that part of the market that is between Rocket Lab’s Electron class rockets (and others) and the much larger Falcon 9. It has a planned payload capacity of 1,250 kg for delivery to near-earth orbit, the launch cost will be $ 10 million. A test launch is currently scheduled for the end of 2020, and commercial launches will begin in 2021. As always, missile development schedules are subject to delay.
The company has a clear vision that, ultimately, all the rockets will be printed in large 3D printers, because today the highest costs are the cost of human labor. “We really feel, by extrapolating into the future, if we can use 3D printing for 90-95 percent of rocket components, we will have a booster that will be a painful blow to competitors,” said Ellis. "This is the cheapest rocket possible."
Prior to Relativity, Ellis was an intern and then worked at Blue Origin, helping develop the BE-4 rocket engine. He participated in the creation of a business case for the introduction of 3D printing of metals in the production process. Co-founder of Relativity, Jordan Noon, worked at SpaceX on the SuperDraco program, which was used for the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Both Tim and Jordan were interested in 3D printing and felt that two of the most advanced companies in the aerospace industry Blue Origin and SpaceX are not pushing the technology far enough. Therefore, they founded Relativity. They believe that three-dimensional printing can not only significantly reduce costs, but also allow them to quickly redo and scale new designs.
3D-printed car parts are now commonplace. Until now, Ellis believes that the game is worth the candle. According to him, the creation and 3D-printing engine "a little easier than expected." The metals they use for parts of the engine chamber, depending on their strength and structure, are in fact 20 percent stronger and have a higher ductility than similar alloys not printed using the 3D process.
Automation allowed Relativity to remain a very small company - it still has only 17 full-time employees at the time when it starts performing flight tests. Turbopumps close to the flight configuration will be added to the engine tests this year. Ellis said that by the end of this year, the staff would expand to about 45 people, as the production would expand.
Source: Ars Technica
Company website: Relativity Space
In the foreground on the left is a printed test sample.
Founded at the end of 2015, Relativity remained hidden until last year, but now it is beginning to emerge from the shadows. And while the Californian company reveals its ambitious plans. One day, the company intends to print a rocket on Mars to return to Earth. “We have a rather broad long-term vision,” admitted Tim Ellis, one of the founders of Relativity, in an interview with Ars Technica.
Before the company reaches Mars, Relativity Space must first successfully build rockets on Earth. Ellis said that Relativity has made significant progress towards this goal, having already stamped out the engine components for test burns. To date, the company has completed more than 85 fire tests for engines of various types.
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Agreement with NASA
Relativity Space announced on Wednesday that it had signed a 20-year partnership with NASA's Stennis Space Center (NASA SSC) for the exclusive lease of a 25-acre E4 test facility in Southern Mississippi. The four test booths within the complex will allow Relativity to develop and test enough engines to assemble 36 rockets a year, and the agreement includes the ability for the company to eventually expand to 250 acres.
Test site at the E4 NASA SSC complex.
Ellis said that this is the first commercial space agreement signed with the Stennis Space Center - according to these agreements, NASA-related objects can be used by the private sector. Kennedy Space Center used similar agreements, such as a deal, allowing SpaceX to use the Launch Complex-39A. This agreement allows Relativity to be tested 24 hours a day, seven days a week, Ellis said. The company estimates a partnership of 30 million dollars.
Unlike SpaceX, which built new engine test facilities in McGregor, Texas or Blue Origin, which has a test site in West Texas, Ellis said he was aiming for a partnership with NASA to avoid such infrastructure costs. “With this partnership, we really do not need to reinvent the wheel,” he said. “Since we have the right to use the test complex exclusively, we don’t need to ask for permissions when we want to test something.”
Driving force
Relativity Space is far advanced in the development of the Aeon 1 rocket engine, which uses a mixture of oxygen and methane. The Aeon engine has modest thrust in a vacuum of about 19,500 pounds, which is less than 10% of the Merlin 1D engine used in the Falcon 9 rocket. However, it is almost four times more powerful than the smaller Rutherford engines that run on the Rocket Lab Electron. size.
Aeon engine test
The main thing in the Aeon engine is not so much its performance, as the lack of complexity in manufacturing. Ellis said that the engine can be printed in less than 20 days, which speeds up the development and testing cycle. In addition, the Aeon engine has a total of 100 parts, compared with several thousand for most other engines.
Stargate is the largest metal metal printer developed by Relativity Space.
The Terran rocket will soon come out of the laboratory walls and rush into orbit, bringing the beginning of commercial exploitation. For its first rocket, the Relativity plans to combine nine Aeon engines in the first stage with one engine in the upper stage, which is already becoming the standard. The Terran PH is aimed at that part of the market that is between Rocket Lab’s Electron class rockets (and others) and the much larger Falcon 9. It has a planned payload capacity of 1,250 kg for delivery to near-earth orbit, the launch cost will be $ 10 million. A test launch is currently scheduled for the end of 2020, and commercial launches will begin in 2021. As always, missile development schedules are subject to delay.
Long-term vision
The company has a clear vision that, ultimately, all the rockets will be printed in large 3D printers, because today the highest costs are the cost of human labor. “We really feel, by extrapolating into the future, if we can use 3D printing for 90-95 percent of rocket components, we will have a booster that will be a painful blow to competitors,” said Ellis. "This is the cheapest rocket possible."
Prior to Relativity, Ellis was an intern and then worked at Blue Origin, helping develop the BE-4 rocket engine. He participated in the creation of a business case for the introduction of 3D printing of metals in the production process. Co-founder of Relativity, Jordan Noon, worked at SpaceX on the SuperDraco program, which was used for the Crew Dragon spacecraft.
Both Tim and Jordan were interested in 3D printing and felt that two of the most advanced companies in the aerospace industry Blue Origin and SpaceX are not pushing the technology far enough. Therefore, they founded Relativity. They believe that three-dimensional printing can not only significantly reduce costs, but also allow them to quickly redo and scale new designs.
Cheaper, Faster, Easier
3D-printed car parts are now commonplace. Until now, Ellis believes that the game is worth the candle. According to him, the creation and 3D-printing engine "a little easier than expected." The metals they use for parts of the engine chamber, depending on their strength and structure, are in fact 20 percent stronger and have a higher ductility than similar alloys not printed using the 3D process.
Automation allowed Relativity to remain a very small company - it still has only 17 full-time employees at the time when it starts performing flight tests. Turbopumps close to the flight configuration will be added to the engine tests this year. Ellis said that by the end of this year, the staff would expand to about 45 people, as the production would expand.
Source: Ars Technica
Company website: Relativity Space
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/371373/
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