Credit: Relativity Space

Terran 1 is an expendable two-stage small-lift launch vehicle developed by the American aerospace manufacturing company Relativity Space. What is remarkable about the design of this rocket is that most of the parts are built with a 3D printer. Terran 1 consists of two stages. The first stage is powered by nine Aeon 1 engines burning methane and oxygen propellants in a gas-generator cycle. The second stage is powered by a single vacuum-optimized version of Aeon 1, known as AeonVac. Terran 1 is capable of up to 1,500 kg (3,300 lb) to low Earth orbit. The space company claims that they can reduce the part count in the vehicle by 100 times compared to traditionally-manufactured rockets and manufacture an entire flight article from raw materials in 60 days. Terran 1 is a prototype for a larger, fully reusable launch vehicle called Terran R. Relativity Space received a Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) launch license to conduct the first launch of its Terran 1 rocket, not-earlier-than (NET) March 2023 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Launch Complex 16.

Terran 1

Terran 1 Name: Terran 1
Manufacturer: Relativity Space
Height: 35.2 m / 115 ft
Diameter: 2.3 m / 7 ft
Mass: ? ton / ? lb
Capacity:
  • LEO: 1,470 kg / 3,260 lb
  • SSO: 898 kg / 1,980 lb
Stages: 2
Engines first stage: 9 x Aeon 1 (methane & LOX)
Engines second stage: 1 x Aeon R (methane & LOX)
Cost per launch: $12 million
Launch sites:
  • Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (USA)
  • Vandenberg Space Force Base (USA)
First launch: 2023
Launches:

Terran 1

Terran 1 launch statistics

Images: Relativity Space

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Kris Christiaens

This article was published by FutureSpaceFlight founder and chief editor Kris Christiaens. Kris Christiaens has been passionate and fascinated by spaceflight and space exploration all his life and has written hundreds of articles on space projects, the commercial space industry and space missions over the past 20 years for magazines, books and websites. In late 2021, he founded the website FutureSpaceFlight with the goal of promoting new space companies and commercial space projects and compiling news of these start-ups and companies on one website.