Is 3D Rocket Printer Relativity Space Publicly Traded?

Relativity Space is a 3D rocket printer startup that has just closed a massive Series E fundraising round. The company’s CEO, Tim Ellis, said in November 2020 that Relativity Space was at “the start of a 10-year vision of how we’re going to disrupt this industry,” according to CNBC.

Other companies within the space industry that are publicly traded include Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Lockheed Martin. Relativity Space, like SpaceX and Blue Origin, isn't publicly traded.

The core mission of Relativity Space is to “3D print entire rockets and build humanity’s industrial base on Mars,” said Ellis in a company press release. “Scalable, autonomous 3D printing is inevitably required to thrive on Mars, and Terran R is the second product step in a long-term journey Relativity is planning ahead.”

Relativity Space intends to use the new capital from the Series E to spur the production of its Terran R heavy-lift, two-stage rocket. Terran R is 216 feet tall, fully reusable, and capable of launching 20 times more payload than Terran 1, its first rocket.

Terran 1 is slated for its first orbital flight at the end of 2021 and its second in June of 2022, according to TechCrunch. Terran R is set to launch in 2024.

Ellis compared the use of 3D printing for rockets to a “paradigm shift in manufacturing” similar to the move from gas internal combustion engines to electric, according to TechCrunch.

Currently, Relativity Space is privately owned and funded by major investors including Baillie Gifford, BlackRock, Fidelity, and Tiger Global. Ellis hopes that the company will inspire many other companies to join Relativity Space and SpaceX in the mission to build an industrial base on another planet.