Relativity Space is a Los Angeles-based start-up, part of a growing list of companies that are really innovating large-scale 3D printing, though in this case it's not a ship being printed, but a rocket.
In fact, Relativity just received €140 million in Series C funding in an effort to become the first company to launch a rocket (almost) fully into 3D orbit.
Other groups, such as SpaceX, can 3D print some parts, but not the entire rocket, or 95%, with the exception of electronics, cables and rubber gaskets. process done by gigantic metal 3D printers called Stargate.
The company claims it's the largest of its kind in the world, and as reported by Wired, the first version of the Stargate is 15 feet tall and has three robotic arms used to weld metal (supplied by miles of thin wire) into products. custom aluminum alloy). .
Stargate produces all the bulky parts needed for the rocket, using standard commercially available metal 3D printers for smaller parts that require more precision.
The first rocket the company is preparing to produce, Terran 1, will have 100 times fewer parts than a comparable-sized standard rocket, with the goal of manufacturing it from raw material to water in less than 60 days.
Terran 1 will have a payload capacity of up to 1.250 kg and will be able to launch medium-sized satellites. Commercial launches are expected to begin in 2021, and the company already has contracts with the likes of Telesat and Mu Space.
Mars needs printers...
Relativity believes that its rockets play a key role in much more ambitious projects, such as transporting infrastructure to the surface of Mars.
Tim Ellis, co-founder and CEO, said: "Relativity was founded on the long-term vision of 3D printing, the first rocket made on Mars, and expanding the possibilities of the human experience of our life."
Apart from the gigantic 3D printing material, the other trick lies in the fact that machine learning algorithms are used for the printer to recognize mistakes, correct its own work and learn. of these mistakes to improve in the future.
Ellis told Wired, "In order to print documents on Mars, you need a system that can adapt to very uncertain conditions. So we created an algorithm framework that we think can be transferred to printing on other planets."