Relativity Space押注3D打印与可回收火箭；Terran R首飞在即

做的是什么生意

Relativity Space builds orbital rockets with giant metal 3D printers and automated factories in Long Beach; Terran R is its reusable medium-to-heavy launcher with 13 Aeon R engines.

启动资金：Not disclosed: Eric Schmidt's March 2025 investment gave him a controlling stake in Relativity Space; earlier investors included Mark Cuban, BlackRock and Fidelity (TechCrunch).

起因

Tim Ellis, an ex-Blue Origin engineer, and Jordan Noone, a former SpaceX propulsion engineer, founded Relativity Space in Long Beach in 2015, betting that large-scale metal 3D printing could build rockets with fewer parts and far less tooling, letting the company iterate like software. In March 2023 the mostly 3D-printed Terran 1 launched on its first attempt but failed to reach orbit; about a month later the company shelved it.

经过

Relativity redirected everything to Terran R, a reusable vehicle sized between SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, capable of up to 23,500 kg to low Earth orbit when reused. An October 2023 Intelsat deal pushed its Terran R backlog to $1.8B across nine customers. Then the company hit trouble: TechCrunch reported cash shortages in 2024 and difficulty raising funding. In March 2025 former Google CEO Eric Schmidt took over as CEO with a controlling stake, with nearly $3B in launch contracts reported. By November 2025 the first Terran R flight vehicle was physically coming together: its second-stage tank passed acceptance testing, all circumferential welds on the first-stage tank were complete, Aeon R engines were in acceptance testing, and Launch Complex 16 at Cape Canaveral was being outfitted with a LOX farm and water tower, with first flight targeted for late 2026.

可借鉴之处

当市场不再喜爱你钟爱的产品时，快速砍掉它：Terran 1的打印技术和工厂延续到Terran R，转型让公司活了下来。