World’s First 3D-Printed Rocket Is Ready For Liftoff Into Low Earth Orbit

Relativity Space’s ‘Terran 1’ rocket is set to launch on March 8, and one thing sets this spacecraft apart from the rest: It is almost entirely 3D-printed.

This may not be the first time space and 3D-printing are mixing, as previously, NASA joined hands with 3D-printing company ICON to build camps on the Moon.

Terran 1 stands 110 feet tall and 7.5 feet wide, and 85% of its mass is printed. According to the company, it is the first and largest 3D-printed object of this magnitude to be launched into Low Earth Orbit, where it will join a mission titled ‘Good Luck, Have Fun’ to test if it can achieve said goal. With that, it will not carry any payloads, but it is designed to take over 2,000 pounds—such as a satellite—into space.

Relativity Space claims that using this method to make the rocket cuts down construction material use by 100 times. Not only that, but it only takes two months to produce the rocket.

The spacecraft is what Relativity Space calls a pathfinder to test the feasibility of the next iteration, called ‘Terran R’, to reach somewhere like Mars. Terran R will stand almost double its height and comes with a payload of 20 tons. This next generation of its rockets will also be 3D-printed and reusable.

In the meantime, Terran 1 is about to take off from Cape Canaveral in Florida. You can catch the live stream here.

[via New Scientist and Tomorrows World Today, cover image via Relativity Space]