Terran 1, from Relativity Space, has 85% of its components printed in 3D
The Terran 1 rocket, the first to have most of its components made with 3D printers, took off successfully last night from Cape Canaveral, Florida (USA), but, after passing the atmosphere, it suffered a failure in the second stage that prevented it from reaching its intended orbit.
Even so, the liftoff of the rocket, manufactured by Relativity Space, served to demonstrate that 3D printing technologies are viable to withstand liftoff and to successfully withstand Max-Q, the highest stress state for its printed structures, he noted. the company on Twitter.
“Today is a great victory, with many historic firsts.” In the coming days “we will evaluate the flight data and provide public updates,” Relativity Space concluded.
Terran 1 and its expected release
After two failed attempts, on March 8 and 11, the Terran 1 rocket lifted off last night at 11:25 pm EDT (3:25 GMT), climbed in a straight line, then arced east over the Atlantic Ocean.
Two minutes and 50 seconds later, the first stage engines shut down as planned and the stage was successfully detached.
In the live broadcast, the camera mounted on the rocket showed the second stage engine starting to fire a few seconds later, but it did not appear to ignite at all. Almost 6 minutes after taking off, the company’s commentators confirmed that the vehicle had not reached orbit.
Terran 1 and 3D printing
Terran 1 is 85% built with technology based on 3D printing, but California-based Relativity Space’s goal is to get to 95% in future versions of the rocket, to be called the Terran R.
The future models prepared by Relativity Space, founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone, will be reusable, will exceed 60 meters in height and will be able to transport up to 20,000 kilos of cargo to low Earth orbit.