The Relativity Terran R rocket is the first 3D printed fully reusable rocket capable of launching over 20,000kgs to Low Earth Orbit (credit Trevor Mahlmann).

The Relativity Terran R is the first 3D printed fully reusable rocket capable of launching over 20,000kg to Low Earth Orbit.

Relativity Space is a satellite launch- and aerospace manufacturing company headquartered in Long Beach, California, USA.  The company is developing manufacturing technologies, launch vehicles and rocket engines for launch services for small satellites.

Relativity Space was founded in Seattle in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone on the idea that existing NewSpace companies were not tapping enough into the potential of additive manufacturing (3D printing). Relativity is aiming to be the first company to successfully launch a fully 3D-printed rocket into orbit, the Terran 1. The company anticipates the first launch in 2022 from the Cape Canaveral launch site.

In February 2020 the company moved its headquarters to a 11,150m2 (120,000 sq. ft.) site in Long Beach CA. The new headquarters are planned to house both business operations and Relativity’s autonomous development operations that the company plans to build into a modern rocket manufacturing factory in the coming years. The factory will have no fixed tooling, which is hoped to allow it to be rapidly reconfigured and autonomous. Also, a new 93,000m2 (1,000,000 sq. ft.) factory was planned for June 2021, with Relativity set to take over the former Boeing C-17 factory in January 2022 to start production of the Terran R heavy lift reusable rocket.