Update for 3:30 p.m. EST: Relativity Space canceled the first launch after an automated abort from Terran 1 earlier today. A new launch date has yet to be announced.
Relativity Space’s Terran 1 rocket, the world’s first 3D-printed launch vehicle, will fly for the first time today (March 8) and you can watch the action live.
The 110-foot-tall (33-meter) Terran 1 is scheduled to lift off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida today during a three-hour window that opens at 1 p.m. EST (1800 GMT) .
You can watch the orbital test flight – called “Good Luck, Have Fun” or GLHF for short – here on Space.com, courtesy of Relativity Space, or directly through the company (opens in a new tab).
Related: Relativity Space will launch satellite ‘tugs’ on a 3D-printed rocket
GLHF is a landmark mission for relativity space and for spaceflight technology in general: the two-stage Terran 1 is the first rocket ever built primarily via 3D printing. This first Terran 1 is approximately 85% 3D printed en masse, although the company aims to increase that figure to 95% on future vehicles.
One of the main objectives of today’s test flight is therefore to show that the vehicle is robust enough to withstand the rigors of the launch.
“As far as the success of the flight is concerned, safely clearing the platform, exiting over the ocean and passing Max-Q would be a big inflection point for today’s launch,” they said. Relativity Space representatives told Space.com via email. “Max-Q is the point where the structural loads on the vehicle are the highest, making it one of the most difficult phases of flight, so taking this step would effectively demonstrate that 3D-printed rockets are structurally viable, in addition to having already successfully completed field acceptance testing at our factory at these maximum stresses.”
Getting to low Earth orbit (LEO), they added, “would be a total home run”.
Terran 1 won’t deploy anything even if it gets to LEO; the rocket doesn’t carry a viable payload, just a commemorative 3D-printed metal ring that weighs about 3.3 pounds (1.5 kilograms), according to EverydayAstronaut.com (opens in a new tab).
Based in California, Relativity Space was founded in 2015 by Tim Ellis and Jordan Noone, who had both worked at Blue Origin. Noone was also employed by SpaceX.
The Terran 1 uses methane as a propellant and liquid oxygen as an oxidizer. It will be the first US-developed “methalox” rocket to attempt an orbital launch, and it could be the world’s first such vehicle to reach orbit. (Beijing-based Landspace’s Zhuque-2, a metalox rocket, launched in December 2022 but failed to reach orbit.)
The expendable Terran 1, which is powered by nine of Relativity Space’s Aeon engines in its first stage and one in its upper stage, can deliver up to 2,756 pounds (1,250 kg) to LEO, according to Relativity Space. (opens in a new tab). But the company is developing something much bigger and more powerful.
Indeed, the Terran 1 is a development step towards the Terran R, a reusable rocket designed to carry up to 44,100 pounds (20,000 kg) to LEO. The 216-foot-tall (66 m) Terran R could fly for the first time as early as next year, company representatives have said.
“Terran 1 serves as a pathfinder and development platform on our path to producing Terran R,” Relativity Space representatives said in the email to Space.com. “Terran 1 has served us extremely well in this capacity up until our first launch, and we anticipate other key learnings to come from launch day as well.”
Space.com editor Elizabeth Howell contributed to this story.
Mike Wall is the author of “Over there (opens in a new tab)(Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for extraterrestrial life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall (opens in a new tab). Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom (opens in a new tab) Or Facebook (opens in a new tab).