WASHINGTON : A 3D-printed rocket built by California-based startup Relativity Space was due for blastoff on its first mission to orbit on Wednesday in a key test of the company's novel strategy for cutting manufacturing costs.
The 3D-printing process, widely used in various industries, involves machines that autonomously"print" sequential layers of soft, liquid or powdered materials that are quickly hardened or fused to form solid, three-dimensional objects. Designs of the objects are scanned from digital blueprints. While the expendable Terran 1 is built to carry 2,755 pounds of satellites to low-Earth orbit, waning demand for that class of launch vehicle has led Relativity to develop a larger, 3D-printed reusable rocket - the Terran R - that it expects to fly in 2024.
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