Quote from: TrevorMonty on 03/09/2023 04:36 pmWill Terran R be flown with reuseable US from its first flight?.I have no idea. The usual difference is that an expendable second stage is designed to minimize cost and mass, while a reusable second stage is designed for EDL, so two different designs. But Relativity needs to test their reusable design. My completely uninformed guess: they will not do a separate expendable design, but will produce and fly the reusable design from the very first flight, even if they do not attempt to actually land it.
Will Terran R be flown with reuseable US from its first flight?.
Quote from: ParabolicSnark on 03/07/2023 11:39 pmQuote from: TrevorMonty on 03/07/2023 06:25 pmRelativity has large cash reserves for now. Probably burning through it at fair rate, especially with Terran R development. No revenue as of present that I know of.Last I heard, the company has about 1,200 people on staff. I compiled their funding round and employee ramp rate (citations needed) on a simple $150/hour rate for comp and overhead. Even with their extensive funding in 2020 and 2021, they should be looking for more money very soon. Of course, this doesn't cover the 1MM sqft facility in Long Beach, the new facilities at Stennis, and of course the vehicle hardware itself.That does assume they will receive absolutely no further revenue or investment, which has not been the case thus far. Even SpaceX performed a funding round within the last quarter, and have been doing so regularly (IIRC to the tune of around $10bn invested thus far). This is no surprise, that's just the way many businesses operate.
Quote from: TrevorMonty on 03/07/2023 06:25 pmRelativity has large cash reserves for now. Probably burning through it at fair rate, especially with Terran R development. No revenue as of present that I know of.Last I heard, the company has about 1,200 people on staff. I compiled their funding round and employee ramp rate (citations needed) on a simple $150/hour rate for comp and overhead. Even with their extensive funding in 2020 and 2021, they should be looking for more money very soon. Of course, this doesn't cover the 1MM sqft facility in Long Beach, the new facilities at Stennis, and of course the vehicle hardware itself.
Relativity has large cash reserves for now. Probably burning through it at fair rate, especially with Terran R development. No revenue as of present that I know of.
With the implosion at Silicon Valley Bank, was/is Relativity an SVB customer? This blog by their "Frontier Tech" team seems to indicate a relationship:-https://www.svb.com/blogs/ann-kim/what-weve-been-building
Quote from: ringsider on 03/10/2023 06:10 pmWith the implosion at Silicon Valley Bank, was/is Relativity an SVB customer? This blog by their "Frontier Tech" team seems to indicate a relationship:-https://www.svb.com/blogs/ann-kim/what-weve-been-buildingIt's quite possible. However they'd be a customer of their loans, not an investor. How does this affect customers? Maybe then can't get more loans or refinance? No idea.
Quote from: brussell on 03/10/2023 09:33 pmQuote from: ringsider on 03/10/2023 06:10 pmWith the implosion at Silicon Valley Bank, was/is Relativity an SVB customer? This blog by their "Frontier Tech" team seems to indicate a relationship:-https://www.svb.com/blogs/ann-kim/what-weve-been-buildingIt's quite possible. However they'd be a customer of their loans, not an investor. How does this affect customers? Maybe then can't get more loans or refinance? No idea.The issue is people or companies who were depositors and now find their funds at risk. If you were a middle-sized startup who kept $30 million of your payroll deposited at SVB, you may have a problem getting access to your cash or even getting it all back.FDIC insurance covers small accounts. Big firms have better things to do with their cash.
Newsletter: A special @MorganLBrennan editionHer thoughts from the "Manifest Space" podcast interview with Relativity's @thetimellis, reflecting on his move to go all-in on Terran R:
Over at our Long Beach headquarters, the Wormhole, Terran R's production base covers 1 million sq. ft. of possibilities coming to life with a buzzin' factory. 🚀 #TerranR
A lot can happen in just under a year same place Circa 2022 👀
Just in! We're thrilled to be on @CNBCdisruptors 2023 list of companies transforming industries for the 2nd year in a row! 🚀 Find us at #4: https://cnb.cx/3NPk8Vd #Disruptor50
Quantitative metrics included company-submitted data on workforce size and diversity, scalability, and sales and user growth. Some of this information has been kept off the record and was used for scoring purposes only. CNBC also brought in data from a pair of outside partners — PitchBook, which provided data on fundraising, implied valuations and investor quality; and IBISWorld, whose database of industry reports we use to compare the companies based on the industries they are attempting to disrupt. CNBC’s Disruptor 50 Advisory Council — a group of 51 leading thinkers in the field of innovation and entrepreneurship from around the world (see list of members below) — then ranked the quantitative criteria by importance and ability to disrupt established industries and public companies. This year the council again found that scalability and user growth were the most important criteria
Anyone else curious how a company that hasn't yet delivered a working product (reach orbit for a launch service provider) managed to make top-10?
The integrated Cruise Vehicle, Entry Capsule, and Mars Lander developed by Impulse Space will launch in 2026 on the Relativity Terran R launch vehicle. After traveling through interplanetary space for over half a year, the Cruise Vehicle will inject the Entry Capsule into the correct landing trajectory and detach. The Entry Capsule will use the proven combination of heatshield and parachute to slow down enough to safely deploy the Mars Lander into freefall. The lander will then perform a propulsive landing using purpose-built engines developed in-house at Impulse Space, completing the first commercial payload delivery to the surface of another planet.https://www.impulsespace.com/mars
So... I've lost all faith. I mean, Relativity has never managed to inspire a lot of confidence in me, but this whole thing is a couple bridges too far. Hey, let's get 99% of the way to putting a rocket into orbit... then abandon the rocket, and the pad and other ground infrastructure, and throw all our effort behind our next-gen vehicle. And while we're at it, lets pair-back our next-gen vehicle to be the equivalent of existing vehicles, ensuring that we will, even in the absolute best possible scenario, just be 2nd to an existing market. And in the worst case scenario, we are competing with Starship, AND Falcon 9, AND New Glenn, AND Neutron, AND Firefly's MLV......well, good luck with that Relativity, but I don't think that's gonna work.
Quote from: JEF_300 on 05/21/2023 06:26 pmSo... I've lost all faith. I mean, Relativity has never managed to inspire a lot of confidence in me, but this whole thing is a couple bridges too far. Hey, let's get 99% of the way to putting a rocket into orbit... then abandon the rocket, and the pad and other ground infrastructure, and throw all our effort behind our next-gen vehicle. And while we're at it, lets pair-back our next-gen vehicle to be the equivalent of existing vehicles, ensuring that we will, even in the absolute best possible scenario, just be 2nd to an existing market. And in the worst case scenario, we are competing with Starship, AND Falcon 9, AND New Glenn, AND Neutron, AND Firefly's MLV......well, good luck with that Relativity, but I don't think that's gonna work.And to add to that, they're going to have burned almost $3B by that point to make it all happen (~$1.3B to date, +3 more years burn rate at $400-600MM/year). Remember the Twitter boondoggle where Musk and Beck were shocked that VO spent $1B on their initial program?
