Relativity signs deal to expand rocket facility
Capitalism in space: The rocket company Relativity Space announced yesterday that it has signed an agreement for a major expansion of its rocket manufacturing facility in California.
The firm — fresh off a $650 million Series A fundraising round announced earlier this month — said Wednesday (June 30) it has signed for a 1-million-square-foot (93,000 square meters) headquarters factory at the Goodman Commerce Center, in its current hometown of Long Beach, California.
The 93-acre plant used to host Boeing’s C-17 military transport aircraft manufacturing, with the last C-17 produced there in 2015. Now, Relativity’s factory will make it the anchor tenant for a planned 437-acre business district west of the Long Beach Airport, the company said. It also plans to hold on to its existing factory space to continue producing its Terran 1 rocket.
Relativity will occupy the new space in January 2022, which will eventually host dozens of the company’s proprietary Stargate printers that can produce Terran 1 and its newly announced reusable version of the rocket, called Terran R. Relativity said the facility will include a fusion of 3D printing, artificial intelligence and autonomous robotics to create a new rocket in less than 60 days.
Relativity has not yet launched any rockets nor has it conducted any test flights. Its first test flight of Terran-1 is presently scheduled for later this year, though no date is set. The company is one of five American new rocket startups that say they will do their first launch before the end of 2021.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Capitalism in space: The rocket company Relativity Space announced yesterday that it has signed an agreement for a major expansion of its rocket manufacturing facility in California.
The firm — fresh off a $650 million Series A fundraising round announced earlier this month — said Wednesday (June 30) it has signed for a 1-million-square-foot (93,000 square meters) headquarters factory at the Goodman Commerce Center, in its current hometown of Long Beach, California.
The 93-acre plant used to host Boeing’s C-17 military transport aircraft manufacturing, with the last C-17 produced there in 2015. Now, Relativity’s factory will make it the anchor tenant for a planned 437-acre business district west of the Long Beach Airport, the company said. It also plans to hold on to its existing factory space to continue producing its Terran 1 rocket.
Relativity will occupy the new space in January 2022, which will eventually host dozens of the company’s proprietary Stargate printers that can produce Terran 1 and its newly announced reusable version of the rocket, called Terran R. Relativity said the facility will include a fusion of 3D printing, artificial intelligence and autonomous robotics to create a new rocket in less than 60 days.
Relativity has not yet launched any rockets nor has it conducted any test flights. Its first test flight of Terran-1 is presently scheduled for later this year, though no date is set. The company is one of five American new rocket startups that say they will do their first launch before the end of 2021.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The print edition can be purchased at Amazon or from any other book seller. If you want an autographed copy the price is $60 for the hardback and $45 for the paperback, plus $8 shipping for each. Go here for purchasing details. The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
For these five American new rocket startups, has anyone written about the business case they present to investors? The latest figure I read for SpaceX Falcon 9, the cost for launch is around $2500 per kilogram, and maybe lower than that currently. Wouldn’t these other companies have to come close to that cost in the next few years in order to survive?
Mark asked: “The latest figure I read for SpaceX Falcon 9, the cost for launch is around $2500 per kilogram, and maybe lower than that currently. Wouldn’t these other companies have to come close to that cost in the next few years in order to survive?”
That is the beauty of competition. It drives down the cost of goods and services. $2,700 per kilogram is for a launch in which the booster is expended, but it is closer to $3,200 when the booster is recovered, both assuming full capacity and a single customer with standard requirements on the launch.
In the meantime, there is currently far more demand for small satellite launches than the available smallsat launch companies can supply. SpaceX is now filling the gap in this supply/demand relationship, at $5,000 per kilogram (minimum price) for a large number of customers, but as the small launchers come online it could be that SpaceX leaves that business for its core business.
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/spacex-successfully-launches-88-smallsats-marking-a-renaissance-in-rocketry-in-2021/
An advantage that the smallsat launch companies have over SpaceX is that they can launch into unique orbits. SpaceX can only launch cheaply if it is taking a large number (weight) of satellites to virtually the same orbit, otherwise Falcon 9 is an expensive option. So far, it looks like the few existing operational smallsat companies are getting more launch contracts than they can currently handle. SpaceX seems to be covering overflow (backlog) rather than being a problem for these companies:
https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/points-of-information/astra-completes-spac-merger-goes-public/
Nuytten’ company Nuytco is building the Exosuit 2000 with once classified steel alloys for military submarines only recently permitted for private industry.
Perfect for Terran R.
Robert, could you contact Mr Nuytten and info about this alloy? The space community must needs be aware of this development