3D AI and space travel - 28th March 2023

The world's first 3D printed rocket, Terran 1, finally launched at 03.25 UTC on 23rd March 2023. Two previous launch attempts had been abandoned due to technical problems. After successfully taking off from Cape Canaveral in Florida this time, the unmanned spacecraft suffered a fault during stage two separation and failed to reach low Earth orbit.

Terran 1 stands 33.5 metres tall and has a diameter of 2.2 metres. 85 percent of its mass is 3D printed using metal alloys and is the largest ever 3D printed object according to the company which built it, Relativity Space. Its aim is to increase this percentage still further to 95 percent.

Relativity says its 3D printed rockets use 100 times fewer parts and can be produced from raw materials in just 60 days. Using intelligent robotics and AI it's working on a larger and fully reusable rocket, the Terran R. Powered by liquid oxygen and liquid natural gas, regarded as the propellants of the future, it's hoped that this fuel could one day power rockets as far as Mars.

The Terran rockets are designed to transport cargo into orbit, to the moon and beyond. And whilst this maiden voyage was not a complete success, the technical programme manager for Relativity Space, Arwa Tizani Kelly is delighted with the results.

Arwa Tizani Kelly: "As you heard from our launch director, we did have an anomaly with stage two during flight. But maiden launches are always exciting and today's flight was no exception. Although we didn't reach orbit, we significantly exceeded our key objectives for this first launch, and that objective was to gather data at max q, one of the most demanding phases of flight, and achieve stage separation."