Relativity Space: General Thread

[c4fusion]

Nose cone print:

I am guessing this nosecone is not going to be jettisoned and they are going to need to redesign it for production.

[FutureSpaceTourist]

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[trimeta]

Nose cone print:

I am guessing this nosecone is not going to be jettisoned and they are going to need to redesign it for production.

It does make me wonder about eventually 3D printing a clamshell fairing. Probably can't easily "skip" the gap when going around in a circle, but I suppose they could do each half separately, with a switchback for the edge. Not sure how that would affect the structure at the edge, though.

[edzieba]

Probably can't easily "skip" the gap when going around in a circle, but I suppose they could do each half separately, with a switchback for the edge.

If the halves can be printed (and no reason they could not, as the stiffeners required to so so are print-in-place) then two halves can be printed with a minute gap between them on the same build plate. Saves time (one longer cycle rather than two individual shorter cycles, due to the fixed time costs of cycle change) and may make absolute print time shorter due to being able to use simpler continuous circular paths with just a momentary deposition interruption rather than needing to reverse print direction at the end of each half.

[Senex]

And it's not like Relativity — all about additive manufacturing — isn't ALLOWED to do "reductive" manufacturing.

You know, like, maybe a saw . . .   

Excellent comments!  Cheers!

[PM3]

Announced first launch of Terran 1:

2018-03: "late 2020" (in ~31 months)
2019-04: "very end of 2020" (in 19 months)
2019-10: "early 2021" (in ~16 months)
2020-03: "fall 2021" (in ~20 months)
2021-08: "early 2022 (in ~6 months)

This timeline is too bumpy to project it into the future. Clearly the rocket will not launch in early 2022, but when?

Firefly milestones:

- initial 2nd stage static fire in April 2019
- initial 1st stage static fire in Jan. 2020
- first launch attempt in September 2021

Relativity is still before all that, they have just started tank testing, not integrated any stage. Development process may be different than at Firefly, but still ... a launch in 2022 looks very ambitious to me. Did I miss some hidden magic at Relativity?

[Hug]

Yeah it's very much a success orientated schedule. They've finished tank testing at this stage and they should be close to having the second stage being integrated with engine for static firing. Relativity are taking a higher risk by skipping building a dev first stage. For reference the first static fire of the flight Alpha first stage occurred in October 2020, which supported a September 2021 launch. But Alpha also got delayed by like half a year because of a single supplier being unable to deliver a FTS component; which should hopefully be avoidable for Relativity. At the time of the first stage static fire; they were targeting a launch in December 2020. Maybe that's a realism check for Relativity; but if they manage to conduct a first stage static by years end; a launch in H1 2022 seems possible. Also for the record they did static a dev second stage back in January. The other risk factor is just some subsystem that they haven't been paying attention to catching them out. Fairing seems underdeveloped and the pressurisation system seems novel as well.

Basically they can do the launch sooner rather than later assuming the first stage doesn't catch on fire and they've got a certified FTS; but unlikely.

[TrevorMonty]

Yeah it's very much a success orientated schedule. They've finished tank testing at this stage and they should be close to having the second stage being integrated with engine for static firing. Relativity are taking a higher risk by skipping building a dev first stage. For reference the first static fire of the flight Alpha first stage occurred in October 2020, which supported a September 2021 launch. But Alpha also got delayed by like half a year because of a single supplier being unable to deliver a FTS component; which should hopefully be avoidable for Relativity. At the time of the first stage static fire; they were targeting a launch in December 2020. Maybe that's a realism check for Relativity; but if they manage to conduct a first stage static by years end; a launch in H1 2022 seems possible. Also for the record they've static'd a dev second stage back in January.

Basically they can do the launch sooner rather than later assuming the first stage doesn't catch on fire and they've got a certified FTS; but unlikely.

What is status of their launch pad?.

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[Hug]

Pads looking solid according to the hypebeast marketing.

[gongora]

They're still aiming for Q1 (as of a week ago).  They have a lot of stuff in work.  Stage one engines well into qual testing, stage 2 engine ready to ship for qual testing, a second stage hotfire scheduled for later this year, first stage delivery to the pad near the end of the year.

[PM3]

They're still aiming for Q1 (as of a week ago).  They have a lot of stuff in work.  Stage one engines well into qual testing, stage 2 engine ready to ship for qual testing, a second stage hotfire scheduled for later this year, first stage delivery to the pad near the end of the year.

That sounds precisely like ABL one year ago. 

"The company expects to ship the first flight version of the RS1 first stage from its El Segundo, California, headquarters to Vandenberg Air Force Base by the end of the year for a launch attempt in the first quarter of 2021." - as of October 22, 2020

One year later, they have not launched yet. And ABL has the most simple, conventional rocket design of all those small launcher startups.

Would be a good achievement if Terran 1 launches in late 2022.

[TrevorMonty]

 Tom Markusic had lot to say about advantages of RP1 as booster fuel, especially cooling properties.

Something like this $10M machine is how Firefly plan to 3d print their tanks going forward.

Combine it with likes of RL's ROSIE and most of composite construction is automated.





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[irishmann]

Anyone know what the corp culture is like over at Relativity? Just applied for a job there at the Cape (if this should be a separate thread for the question, lemme know)

[harrystranger]

Some great photos of LC-16 at the Cape
https://twitter.com/derekiswise/status/1454948048568786945?s

[Daniels30]

"We recently shipped off our Terran 1 Interstage for heat treatment! This is the part of the rocket that will separate from Stage 2 in flight."

Edit: Is it just me or is this an absurd amount of work for what is just a propellant tank?
https://twitter.com/relativityspace/status/1455620866314674180

[ParabolicSnark]

Edit: Is it just me or is this an absurd amount of work for what is just a propellant tank?

Oh don't worry. It'll all be done by robots on Mars. Maybe the robots will make the heat treat facility too .

Edit: this is just the interstage. They 3D printed a barrel...

[Robotbeat]

"We recently shipped off our Terran 1 Interstage for heat treatment! This is the part of the rocket that will separate from Stage 2 in flight."

Edit: Is it just me or is this an absurd amount of work for what is just a propellant tank?
https://twitter.com/relativityspace/status/1455620866314674180

It's not just you.

[niwax]

"We recently shipped off our Terran 1 Interstage for heat treatment! This is the part of the rocket that will separate from Stage 2 in flight."

Edit: Is it just me or is this an absurd amount of work for what is just a propellant tank?
https://twitter.com/relativityspace/status/1455620866314674180

It's not just you.

I hoped they were at least bringing this much innovation with their printing, like the custom Tesla casting alloy that alleviates the need for heat treatment. If this is really the state of their technology I respectfully retract my last shred of hopefulness under the usual "3D printing is stupid for nearly all kinds of manufacturing" rant.

[imprezive]

I almost missed the satellite mock up in the photos. I wonder what it is?

[ringsider]

"We recently shipped off our Terran 1 Interstage for heat treatment! This is the part of the rocket that will separate from Stage 2 in flight."

Edit: Is it just me or is this an absurd amount of work for what is just a propellant tank?
https://twitter.com/relativityspace/status/1455620866314674180

It's not just you.

To quote someone in this thread:

"All Relativity is doing is making metal cylinders, very, very slowly, and very, very expensively. If they made them by bending and welding sheet metal like Astra they might already be flying and wouldn't need however many hundreds of millions they have raised so far."

You really have to drink the Koolaid to believe this is a revolutionary approach when people like Rocket Lab, Astra, Firefly and others can build the same structures in days using carbon or sheet metal.