Relativity Space develops rockets manufactured largely via metal 3D printing, including its small expendable Terran 1 and a much larger fully reusable heavy-lift vehicle, Terran R. The company says it has printed roughly 85% of the rocket slated for its first orbital flight and uses a common production line to make both Aeon 1 and Aeon R engines. Terran R is planned to be 216 feet tall, carry up to 20,000 pounds to LEO, use seven Aeon R engines on the first stage, and have reusable fairings that remain attached to the second stage. Relativity estimates a single Terran R can be built in about 60 days and plans to launch it from Cape Canaveral as early as 2024, with an initial anchor customer already signed. The company’s leadership emphasizes 3D printing as a software- and data-driven manufacturing paradigm intended to enable rapid iteration and off-planet manufacturing; CEO Tim Ellis previously started the metal 3D printing division at Blue Origin. Financially, the company has raised substantial capital to accelerate production and vehicle development. Relativity Space builds launch vehicles by 3D printing them end-to-end using a handful of large custom printers, aiming to reduce cost and accelerate assembly. The company says the approach simplifies the building process and enables later-stage revisions and testing, advantages demonstrated in testing. Relativity finalized its Terran-1 rocket and used a prior $140 million raise in late 2019 to build out a new Long Beach headquarters. It has won a NASA‑Lockheed government mission contract, added customers such as Iridium, and secured a launch site at Vandenberg. Terran-1 has not yet flown; the company plans its first orbital test flight in late 2021. The current fundraising appears intended to scale operations, staffing, materials, transportation, insurance and other requirements for major missions. Relativity Space is developing the world’s first autonomous rocket factory (Stargate) and the Terran 1, an entirely 3D‑printed rocket for satellite launch services. The Stargate factory integrates machine learning, software, robotics, and metal 3D printing to shorten build times and enable rapid iteration. Terran 1 is designed to be built from raw material to launch-ready in less than 60 days, with payload capacity up to 1,250 kg and an upgraded 3‑meter fairing. The company has advanced hardware milestones including printed first- and second-stage structures, turbopump tests, over 200 engine hotfire tests at NASA Stennis, avionics testing, and coupled loads analysis. Relativity has grown infrastructure from 10,000 to over 280,000 square feet and planned to exceed 480,000 square feet in 2019, while increasing headcount from 14 to 110. It has deepened government partnerships with launch site rights at Cape Canaveral, long-term test-site agreements with NASA, and a 20-year lease at NASA Stennis. Customer contracts include Telesat, mu Space, Spaceflight Industries, and Momentus as part of its Terran 1 manifest. Relativity builds rockets primarily out of 3D-printed metal components, claiming over 95% of major parts are printed and having created the world’s largest metal 3D printer. The company has completed more than 100 rocket engine test fires and says its process reduces part count from roughly 100,000 to 1,000, enabling rockets to be built in days instead of years. Relativity targets larger payload satellite launches—payloads up to six times the size of many competitors—and focuses on scaling automated production to lower costs and lead times. The firm uses machine learning alongside custom software, hardware and proprietary alloys to compress timelines and reduce labor and tooling. Relativity reports over $1 billion in MOUs and LOIs with commercial and government entities and has more than $45 million in total venture funding to date. The company also secured a 20-year test site partnership with NASA Stennis that enables qualification and acceptance testing of up to 36 complete rockets per year, with an option to expand.

Total raised

$1.3B

Funding rounds

4

Latest round

Series E

Latest activity

Jun 2021