加利福尼亚州3D印刷火箭制造商相对性空间宣布成功筹集了1.4亿美元的资金。
由全球技术投资公司领导Bondand San Franciscan growth-stage investor部落资本, the Series C funding round received contribution from five new and four existing investors. This included Lee Fixel, Michael Ovitz, Spencer Rascoff, Republic Labs, and actor/musician Jared Leto, in addition to Playground Global, Y Combinator, Social Capital, and Mark Cuban that invested in prior rounds.
The money will be used to help finance preparation and development of the company’s Terran 1 rocket, currently scheduled for a test launch by the end of 2020. Following the apparent success of this test, the company has plans to enter the rocket into commercial service in 2021 witha contract from Canadian communication satellite provider Telesatto fulfill already.
“Relativity was founded with the long term vision of 3D printing the first rocket made on Mars and expanding the possibilities for human experience in our lifetime,” commented Relativity Space co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis.
“With the close of our Series C funding, we are now one step closer to that vision by being fully funded to launch Terran 1 to orbit as the world’s first entirely 3D printed rocket.”
Reinventing the rocket manufacturing value chain
相对性空间首先以其雄心勃勃的目标进入私人空间勘探市场，即在2015年生产全3D印刷车辆。在开发的第四年中，该公司超过了许多里程碑，包括成功生产a 14-foot-tall fuel tank for the Terran 1, and more than 200 hot-fire tests of itsAEON engine.
不断提前，该公司今年与U.S. Air Forceto operate itslaunch facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. Later, in June 2019, Relativity was granted permission to expand facilities atNASA的Stennis航天中心在密西西比州的汉考克县，建立了一个完全起步的生产设施。
The core of Relativity Space’s production is the Stargate 3D printer. Operated by the interaction of several robotic arms, this machine is challenged with producing a whole Terran rocket in just 60 days, plus 6 months of iteration. Upgrading the capacity of the Stargate, Relativity now has several “next generation” 3D printers in operation. With this system, the company seeks to entirely reinvent the rocket manufacturing value chain, which has remained largely unchanged in over 60 years. According to Noah Knauf, co-founder and General Partner at Bond, who co-led the Series C investment, “We believe the Stargate factory is a template for the future of aerospace manufacturing and provides Relativity’s commercial customers, and eventually humanity, a faster, more reliable, and lower cost way to shuttle important resources from earth to outer space.”
Beyond Earth’s orbit
在2015年至2017年之间，相对论筹集了1000万美元的资金。然后，该公司进一步收到$35 million cash injection in 2018. With the new funding combined, the company has now raised around $185 million to carry out its mission.
到2019年底，相对论正在寻求确保Terran 1的极地和太阳同步轨道（SSO）发射场，将3D印刷的火箭带到高达600至800公里的高度。
“Accelerating speed in the design, manufacture and delivery of rockets will become the Moore’s Law of space travel and exploration,” states Arjun Sethi, Cofounder and General Partner at Tribe Capital in conclusion, “By optimizing manufacturing for speed, Relativity will increase the frequency of launches in service of growing commercial and consumer needs in space.”
“正如微处理器速度加倍的同时，相对性也将推动整个硬件和软件系统的生态系统，使人类超越地球轨道。”
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Featured image shows Jordan Noone co-founder & CTO of Relativity Speace for scale alongside the Stargate 3D printer. Photo via Relativity Space
