Relativity Space Shares Updated Go-to-Market Approach for Terran R, Taking Aim at Medium-to-Heavy Payload Category with Next-Generation Rocket

Company Shares Updated Details of Terran R Vehicle Architecture

Relativity Space, the first company to 3D print rockets and build the largest metal 3D printers in the world, revealed plans for Terran R, its reusable, 3D printed, medium-to-heavy lift orbital launch vehicle. Building on over seven years of Relativity Space’s experience, learnings, and momentum gathered through its Terran 1 program – the world’s first 3D printed rocket to fly and reach space – Relativity is accelerating the company’s focus on Terran R to meet significant and growing market demand. Terran R also represents a large leap towards Relativity’s mission to build humanity’s multiplanetary future, eventually offering customers a point-to-point space freighter capable of missions from the Earth to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

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“Our first chapter as a company was to prove to the world 3D printed rockets were viable. We just did that with Terran 1. Our second chapter is to build the next great launch company with Terran R”

Terran R Architecture

As a two-stage, 270-foot-tall rocket with an 18-foot diameter and a 5-meter payload fairing, Terran R is a customer-centric next-generation launch vehicle designed to meet the needs of commercial companies and government entities sending payloads into LEO, MEO, GEO, and beyond. Terran R’s architecture choices enable accelerated development and the ability to deliver a rapidly scaling launch cadence for customers. Terran R will prioritize first stage reusability, with the capability of launching 23,500kg to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or 5,500kg to a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO), both with downrange landing, or up to a maximum payload of 33,500kg to LEO in expendable configuration. Horizontal integration to the vehicle will be supported through a standard Payload Attach Fitting (PAF) interface, with payload integration configurations available for clusters of constellation satellites, single large satellites, or other unique spacecraft. Starting in 2026, Terran R will launch from Space Launch Complex 16, the company’s orbital launch site at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Designed for rapid reusability and development iteration speed, Terran R is a 3D printed rocket, with initial versions using aluminum alloy tank straight-section barrels in a hybrid manufacturing approach, which allows Relativity to meet the rapid launch and ramp rate timelines necessary to serve overwhelming market demand, including servicing Relativity’s signed customer backlog of $1.65B in Launch Service Agreements (LSAs) and additional several billion dollars in active customer LSA dialogue. Each Terran R requires approximately 6 times more 3D printing by mass than Terran 1. 3D printing technology for Terran R is strategically used to reduce vehicle complexity and improve manufacturability, with continued company focus on redefining what is possible with large scale additive manufacturing after successfully proving the viability of 3D printed rockets with Terran 1. Initially, Terran R will use the same proprietary printed aluminum alloy as flown on Terran 1 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 in active development, which is accelerated by the aid of artificial intelligence-based alloy discovery tools.

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Terran R’s first stage will be outfitted with 13 3D-printed gas generator cycle Aeon R LOx/Methane rocket engines each capable of 258,000 lb. sea level thrust, while its second stage houses a single LOx/Methane Aeon Vac engine with 279,000 lb. vacuum thrust. These engines benefit from Relativity’s advanced experience developing gas generator engines and vehicle stages with the oxygen/methane propellant combination. The engine composition on the first stage is comprised of four outer fixed engines aligned underneath four landing legs, and nine center gimbaled engines, providing enhanced reliability on vehicle ascent with engine-out capability. On both Terran R stages, the LOx propellant tanks are forward of the methane tanks, separated by a printed common dome. Subcooled cryogenic propellants are used on all parts of the vehicle except for the first stage liquid oxygen system, where subcooling 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 by reducing ullage collapse. The vehicle also features an in-house developed pneumatic pusher stage separation system.

Terran R features two near body-length aero strakes, four unique slider-mechanism landing legs, and four printed actuating grid fins. These features optimize first stage reusability, enabling rapidly scaled launch cadence for customers together with greater payload to orbit and lower costs versus other reusable architectures. Terran R’s innovative first stage architecture allows for a high angle of attack reentry which reduces propellant required for reentry burns, aerodynamic design for better reentry stability and improved control authority, and a passively actuated landing leg deployment system which is elegantly simple, lightweight, and highly operable for rapid reuse. An 18-foot vehicle diameter also aids vehicle stability with lower requirements on landing legs. Terran R will have an electromechanical actuator (EMA)-based engine thrust vector control (TVC) system, and also use EMAs for grid fin control, in addition to in-house developed avionics and flight software. Additionally, the vehicle features a reentry heat shield on the aft end designed for rapid reusability.

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