Relativity Space had a mad rush to launch

Relativity Space will attempt to make history with the first launch of the 110-foot-tall Terran 1 rocket tomorrow afternoon. The company, founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone, is best known for its innovative 3D printing technology: Terran 1 is 3D printed at 85% by mass, and that even includes the rocket engines. The company has made big bets and has even bigger ambitions, with Relativity CEO Tim Ellis echoing the Mars ambitions of SpaceX CEO Elon Musk.

“Our long-term mission remains that we want to help build an industrial base on Mars and help make humanity multiplanetary,” Ellis told TechCrunch.

The company has made a lot of headlines in its eight years of existence. Here are the top 10 moments from the TC archives.

We first wrote about Relativity in 2017, when the company had only 14 (!) full-time employees. We note that the company wants to reduce the cost of rocket launches by ten times with its 3D printing process.

Relativity has landed a multi-year contract with the US Air Force to operate rocket launch facilities at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida – the very site from which Relativity hopes to launch Terran 1 tomorrow.

TC’s Darrell Etherington spoke with CEO Tim Ellis about the economics of Relativity Space, just months after the company raised $140 million. (TC+)

Building on its momentum, Relativity announced its newest dig: a massive warehouse-style building in Long Beach, California.

The company announced the massive increase in November 2020, which was shortly followed by an aggressive expansion of manpower, facilities, and, well…everything.

Relativity has finally revealed what comes after Terran 1: Terran R, a much larger and even more ambitious 3D-printed rocket – with full reusability.

Less than a year after the $500 million close, the company has successfully raised an additional $650 million to expand the development of Terran R.

Relativity has multiplied its footprint by a factor of 10 with a new 1 million square foot facility in Long Beach.

We reported last year that Relativity had signed a huge deal with UK satellite constellation operator OneWeb, plus it had $1.2 billion in firm Terran R launch deals – deals the company managed to land before even sending a single rocket into orbit.

Relativity has announced new plans with startup Impulse Space, founded by SpaceX’s former CTO of propulsion, to land a spacecraft on Mars as soon as 2024 (yes, you read that right).