Watch Relativity attempt the first launch of its 3D-printed rocket Terran 1

3D-printing specializer Relativity Space is attempting its archetypal rocket motorboat connected Saturday, a ngo that marks the astir important trial yet of the company's ambitious manufacturing approach.

The company's Terran 1 rocket is launching from LC-16, a launchpad astatine the U.S. Space Force's installation successful Cape Canaveral, Florida.

The ngo is called "Good Luck, Have Fun," and aims to successfully scope orbit. Relativity has a model betwixt 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. ET to launch, oregon postpone arsenic it did aft an effort earlier this week. The institution said that a crushed instrumentality valve malfunctioned during Wednesday's attempt, which affected the somesthesia of the propellant that was being pumped into the rocket, but has since fixed the valve issue.

While galore abstraction companies utilize 3D printing, besides known arsenic additive manufacturing, Relativity has efficaciously gone all-in connected the approach. The institution believes its attack volition marque gathering orbital-class rockets overmuch faster than accepted methods, requiring thousands little parts and enabling changes to beryllium made via software. The Long Beach, California-based task aims to make rockets from earthy materials successful arsenic small arsenic 60 days.

Terran 1 stands 110 feet high, with 9 engines powering the little archetypal stage, and 1 motor powering the precocious 2nd stage. Its Aeon engines are 3D-printed, with the rocket utilizing liquid oxygen and liquid earthy state arsenic its 2 substance types. The institution says that 85% of this archetypal Terran 1 rocket was 3D-printed.

Relativity prices Terran 1 astatine $12 cardinal per launch. It's designed to transportation astir 1,250 kilograms to debased Earth orbit. That puts Terran 1 successful the "medium lift" conception of the U.S. motorboat market, betwixt Rocket Lab's Electron and SpaceX's Falcon 9 successful some terms and capability.

Wednesday's debut for Terran 1 is not carrying a payload oregon outer wrong the rocket. The institution emphasized the motorboat represents a prototype.

In a bid of tweets before the mission, Ellis shared his expectations for the mission: He noted that reaching a milestone of maximum aerodynamic unit astir 80 seconds aft liftoff would beryllium a "key inflection" constituent for proving the company's technology.