Relativity to open a huge factory that measures up to its grand ambitions

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  Rendering of Relativity Space's new factory, with a Terran R rocket out front. [credit: Relativity Space ]

Relativity Space announced on Wednesday morning plans to move into a new factory-its third new facility in three years-as the startup company continues to scale up its ambitious launch plans. The new factory, formerly a 93-acre Boeing facility that manufactured the C-17 aircraft in Long Beach, California, comes with 1 million square feet of work space.

"It can fit the USC Coliseum inside of it," Relativity CEO Tim Ellis said in an interview, referring to the iconic stadium that hosted the opening ceremonies of the 1984 Summer Olympics. "To our knowledge, it's the second-largest factory in private space, with SpaceX being number one."

Ellis said the new 3D printing factory is needed to support the production of the proposed Terran R rocket, a fully reusable booster intended to compete with SpaceX's highly successful Falcon 9 rocket. The company is also rapidly growing, he said, with a total of 400 employees. It plans to add 200 more people by the end of 2021 and then probably double the total by the end of next year. The new factory will accommodate about 2,000 employees.

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