They aim to make space travel cheap and easy and launch the first completely 3D printed rocket into orbit by 2024.
In November 2020, Relativity space announced its $500 million Series D funding at a calculated $2.3 billion valuation.
In June 2021, they announced another $650 million funding led by Fidelity Investments at a valuation of $4.2 billion, bringing the total funding of $1.335 billion.
This funding will help them develop a fully functional and reusable medium-lift vehicle, “Terran R”, by 2024.
The company anticipates the development and launch of Terran 1.
About The Founders
Tim Allen, CEO (Relativity Space)
He is an Aerospace Engineer. He holds a BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering from USC Viterbi School Of Engineering.
After Graduation, he started working at Blue Origin, and where he developed 3D printed rocket components. He also worked as a propulsion development engineer on crew capsule RCS thrusters, BE-4 and New Glen. He has done internships at Blue Origin three times.
Tim was also credited for bringing Metal 3D printing in-house.
He is also the youngest member of the National Space Council User Advisory Group for the last two decades.
Jordan Noone (Executive Advisor of Relative Space)
He is the co-founder of Relativity space. Jordan Noone was the youngest and the first individual to get Federal Aviation Administration clearance to fly a rocket into space while leading the Rocket Propulsion Lab at the University of Southern California.
Jordan started working at Blue Origin as an intern after completing his junior year at the University of Southern California.
After Graduation, he was hired by SpaceX as an In-Space Propulsion Development Engineer.
In 2015, He co-founded Relativity Space with his classmate Tim Allen.
In 2020, He stepped down as CTO of the company and became an executive advisor.
Headquarters of Relativity Space
Relativity Space has just announced a new 11,000 Square meters headquarter and factory in Long Beach, California, in February of 2020.
The headquarters will have both Business Operation and Relativity’s Autonomous Development Operations, which the company plans to expand into a Modern Rocket Manufacturing Factory soon.
In June of 2021, the company announced a new 93000 square meter factory, which they will acquire by taking over the Boeing C-17 production plant by January 2022 to begin developing Terran R, a reusable launch vehicle.
Employment at Relativity Space
The company that started with two nerds working on 3D prints has 400+ employees working for them.
The company also gives internships to Undergraduate students entering their third year in the United States, and sadly it’s not available for students of other countries. Admission forms for the internships are up on their official website.
Conclusion
The startup seems to be going stable for now. The year 2024 will be the break or make moment for the company, with all these projects at hand. If the experiments are successful, space travel will be cheaper and more accessible and faster.
But for that, we’ll have to wait for 2024. Let hope for the best.
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