A Closer Look At Relativity's Future 3D-Printed Rockets

over at relativity space the company is now entirely focused on the development manufacturing and testing of the teranar launch vehicle well at first the company was primarily working on the Taran one rocket with its Maiden flight complete relativity has officially moved on and retired the small lift vehicle they learned a lot of valuable lessons primarily in the manufacturing process and are now applying these skills to the next rocket however going from an Expendable 3D printed rocket that's 110 feet or 34 meters tall to a reusable 270 foot or 82 meter tall 3D printed rocket is a big change so big that despite the experience gained from Terran 1 relativity now faces a host of new challenges throughout the development process with this in mind the company has already made some significant progress on major components and even infrastructure this includes new factories enr engine tests and new large printers just to name a few here I'll go more in depth into the design of this rocket relativity's 3D printing goal what to expect in the coming months and more [Music] originally when teranard was first announced relativity provided graphics and information on the capabilities of the system the company had an idea of what they wanted weren't exactly sure the design or even application of this next Generation rocket this was the case up until a big update in redesigned to practically the entire system in its current state taranar will be a partially reusable 3D printed medium to heavy lift orbital launch vehicle an accompany statement relativity set building on over seven years of Relativity spaces experience learnings and momentum gathered through its Terran one program the world's first 3D printed rocket to fly and reach space relativity is accelerating the company's focus on taranar to meet significant and growing market demand teranar also represents a large leap toward relativity's mission to build Humanity's multi-planetary future eventually offering customers a point-to-point space freighter capable of missions from the Earth to the Moon Mars and Beyond they said looking at the two vehicles the Technologies created throughout the Taren one program were intentionally envisioned to build direct experience relevant to teranar they highlight that this approach was not the easiest path to get Taren 1 to the Launchpad as an ambitious first vehicle but hope to enable relativity's team to capitalize on a significant experience space while executing taranar focusing on the taranar system as a two-stage 270 foot tall rocket with an 18-foot diameter and a 5 meter payload fairing relativity describes taranar as a customer-centric Next Generation launch vehicle designed to meet the needs of commercial companies and government entities sending payloads into Leo Mio Geo and Beyond teranar will prioritize first stage reusability with the capability of launching 23 500 kilograms to lower thorbin or 5500 kilograms to a geosynchronous transfer orbit both with downrange Landing or up to a maximum payload of 33 500 kilograms to Leo and in Expendable configuration horizontal integration to the vehicle will be supported through a standard payload attach vending interface with payload integration configurations available for clusters of constellation satellites single large satellites or other unique spacecraft well the company originally planned to launch this rocket in 2024 they've since moved that date back to a more realistic 2026 estimate designed for rapid reusability and development iteration speed terranar is a 3D printed rocket with initial versions using aluminum alloy tank straight section barrels and a hybrid manufacturing approach which is meant to allow relativity to meet the rapid launch and ramp rate timelines necessary to serve overwhelming market demand including servicing relativity signed customer backlog of 1.65 billion dollars and launch service agreements to put the size of this rocket in perspective each teranar requires approximately six times more Authority printing by mass than Terran 1. 3D printing technology for terenar is strategically used to reduce vehicle complexity and improve manufacturability with continued company focus on redefining what is possible with large-scale additive Manufacturing initially taranar will use the same proprietary printed aluminum alloy as flown on Terran one with a focus on supply chain scaling however a third generation aluminum alloy designed for improved performance of an orbital vehicle mission life beyond 20 reusable flights is said to be an active development starting at the bottom Terra North's first stage will be outfitted with 13 3D printed gas generator cycle Eon r lock slash methane rocket engines each capable of 258 000 pound force on both terranar stages the Lux propellant tanks are forward of the methane tanks separated by a printed common Dome sub-cooled cryogenic propellants are used on all parts of the vehicle except for the first stage liquid oxygen system where sub cooling is not necessary to meet performance goals both stages use a cryogenic helium pressurization system to enable better press Authority when engines are not turned on the vehicle also features an in-house developed pneumatic Pusher stage separation system during an actual launch shortly after stage separation the first stage of terenar will perform a slow flip maneuver using its cold gas reaction control system or RCs gridfins deploy followed by igniting engines to complete entry Burns slowing velocity and reducing Peak loads and heating the vehicle design is meant to result in a more stable entry profile with controlled flow of Separation around the vehicle terenar is working toward atmospheric entry with grid fin control the vehicle will then ignite engines for a landing burn and command The Lex ladder mechanism to open which will then passively deploy with the aid of aerodynamics the first stage will then touch down on the downrange ship in the ocean once the first stage has completed its re-entry it will go for inspection refurbishment and recertification for its next flight from Cape Canaveral in order for this to be possible terenar features two near-body length Arrow strikes four unique Slaughter mechanism Landing legs and four printed actuating grid fence these features are meant to optimize first stage reusability enabling rapid scaled launch Cadence for customers together with greater payload to orbit and lower costs versus other reusable architectures terenar's first stage is meant to allow for a high angle of attack re-entry reducing propellant required for re-entry Burns aerodynamic design for better re-entry stability and improved Control Authority and a passively actuated Landing leg deployment system which they describe as elegantly simple lightweight and highly operable for Rapid reuse an 18-foot vehicle diameter also AIDS vehicle stability with lower requirements on Landing legs taranar will have an electromechanical actuator or EMA based engine thrust vector control system and also use EMAs for grid fin control in addition to in-house developed avionics and flight software Additionally the vehicle features a re-entry heat shield on the AFT in designed for Rapid reusability in order for this rocket to not only provide a decent payload capacity but also reuse the first stage the enr engines need to be extremely powerful and also capable of throttling so far this component in particular has been the main area of focus with consistent updates from the company most recently on June 30th relativity CEO Tim Ellis tweeted in response to an ER engine firing saying crazy this single engine has 25 more thrust than all nine combined for Terran one it's a beast and 13 of these for teranar will be insane during launch and Landing already a focus of significant development and testing efforts for the last two years enr benefits from the heritage of its smaller predecessor eon 1. migrating many of the same propulsion system architecture decisions from Eon 1 to eonar has unlocked a high rate of iterative design and fast-tracked much of the E on our test program since mid-2022 relativity has been underway testing all eonar combustion devices and NASA stennis Space Center including the main thrust chamber assembly gas generator and gas gas ignition system in February 2023 the company completed its first full build of an ER engine since then the testing is only ramped up relativity space has big plans for the future with terenar not only will this rocket be massive and partially reusable but also entirely 3D printed we will have to wait and see how it progresses and the impact it has on the space industry thank you very much for watching foreign foreign

Channel: TheSpaceBucket

Views: 1,688

Keywords:

Id: FPyIZgLRmx4

Length: 8min 9sec (489 seconds)

Published: Tue Jul 04 2023