This third failure follows two previous attempts that were canceled at the last minute due to technical problems.
This mission, titled “Good Luck, Have Fun,” will be closely followed as 3D printed rockets could represent a small revolution in the launch vehicle industry.
California startup Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket was designed to collect data and show that a 3D-printed rocket could withstand the rigors of launch and spaceflight.
Overall, 85% of the rocket’s mass was 3D printed, and the company is ultimately targeting 95%.
The main advantage of the technique is that it greatly simplifies the manufacturing process and therefore reduces costs.
With its large 3D printing robots, the company claims to be able to divide the number of parts needed by 100 compared to a conventional rocket. It also highlights the speed of the process: 60 days from raw material to finished product.
Terran 1 measures 33.5 meters in height and just over 2 meters in diameter. Its first stage has nine engines, also 3D printed.
Its goal: to be able to bring 1250 kg into a low earth orbit (e.g. small satellites), which makes it a light launch vehicle. However, this first flight contained no payload.
The rocket should have reached the point where the aerodynamic force exerted on the machine is greatest (max Q, in technical jargon) 80 seconds after launch. According to the young boss of Relativity Space, this is the crucial phase of the flight.
What we want to prove in flight, we have already proven on the ground: Tim Ellis chatted at the beginning of March that the 3D-printed structures can withstand these forces when the dynamic pressure and the stress on the vehicle are at their highest.
Unprecedented
After the rocket’s first stage separated, the second should have continued its journey until it reached Earth orbit eight minutes after launch.
Achieving that step on first flight would have been unprecedented, said Tim Ellis.
In fact, the rocket uses Methalox as fuel, a mixture of liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas (essentially methane). If it had managed to reach orbit, it would have been the first rocket to use this fuel to do so.
Relativity Space, which promotes the long-term vision of a multi-planet humanity, argues that it is the fuel of the future that is easiest to produce on Mars.
United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Vulcan and SpaceX’s Starship rockets under development must also use this fuel.
A first attempt to launch Terran 1 was aborted on March 8 due to a fuel temperature problem.
Then, on March 11, the launch was twice aborted in the last seconds of the countdown, first because of an automation problem, then because of a fuel pressure problem.
booming demand
Regardless of the success of Terran 1’s first flight, the data collected will also be used for the development of its big sister: Terran R.
This larger rocket, also developed by Relativity Space, must be able to carry 20,000 kg into low orbit.
According to Tim Ellis, the company has already signed $1.65 billion worth of deals, most of them for Terran R.
One of them was passed with the company OneWeb, whose constellation of satellites has to provide Internet from space.
This type of medium rocket clearly offers the biggest market opportunity for the rest of the decade as there is currently a major shortage in this payload class, Tim Ellis tweeted.
A satellite operator can wait years before getting a seat on the big Arianespace or SpaceX rockets.
Dozens of up-and-coming companies have therefore been founded in recent years to meet the booming demand.
According to the specialist company Euroconsult, the number of satellites launched each year has risen from around 120 in 2012 to over 2,700 in 2022.