With Eyes on Reuse, Relativity Plans Rapid Transition to Terran R Engines
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With eyes on reuse, Relativity plans rapid transition to Terran R engines:
Relativity Space intends to use the small Aeon 1 engine it is developing to power its first rocket for only a few flights. Instead, the company plans to quickly perform a "block upgrade" for the Terran 1 rocket, which will serve as a bridge to the much larger, more capable Terran R rocket.
"We've always envisioned Terran 1 being a development platform," said Tim Ellis, the co-founder and chief executive of Relativity Space, in an interview with Ars.
The California-based company, which seeks to 3D-print the majority of its rocket parts, is continuing to work toward the first launch of Terran 1 this year. Powered by nine Aeon 1 rocket engines, this small rocket has a lift capacity of 1.25 metric tons to low Earth orbit. This first Terran 1 mission will not carry any customer payloads in order to focus on the rocket itself and is called "Good Luck, Have Fun." The name is a reference to what players say to one another before a video game begins, Ellis said.
The second flight of Terran 1 will carry a "Venture Class Launch Services" small satellite payload for NASA, awarded by the space agency in 2020 to support US-based small launch companies. The third Terran 1 mission also has a customer, but Relativity has not yet disclosed it.
Following these three demonstration flights, Relativity plans to upgrade the Terran 1 rocket by moving from a nine-engine configuration to just a single Aeon-R engine. This engine, nine of which will eventually power the reusable Terran R rocket, is projected to have about 300,000 pounds of thrust, or more than 10 times that of the Aeon-1 engine. This upgrade will provide Relativity with a more capable small launch vehicle, for less cost, with commonality on the Terran R rocket, Ellis said. It also satisfies the company's goal of reducing part counts. For example, instead of nine engines and 18 turbopumps, the upgraded Terran 1 would use one engine and two turbopumps.
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