Good morning. It’s another busy week full of earnings, launches, and a spacewalk. Let’s dive right in.

In today's edition...
🖨️ New rocket printing tech
🔥 UT chases liquid-fueled launch
🗓️ The week ahead

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New Printing Tech for Terran-R

Relativity is adding two new 3D printing technologies to its repertoire to build the larger, heavy-lift Terran-R, CEO Tim Ellis told Payload.

“Aeon R is a pretty giant engine. Not just thrust, but I think the size of it,” Ellis said. “So the two new printing technologies are necessary to start doing some hybrid additive manufacturing.”

Some background: Relativity announced last month that it was abandoning its Terran 1 rocket after its first flight, and instead pursuing Terran-R, a 270-ft (82 m) tall rocket that is expected to launch in 2026.

The shift to the larger rocket will help Relativity meet growing customer demand for a heavy-lift alternative, Ellis said, adding that customers do not want a SpaceX monopoly.

“There’s not a second disruptive launch company yet in the US that’s in the medium- to heavy-lift payload market. I think that trophy is still completely unclaimed,” he said.

Other companies vying to compete with SpaceX include:

• Ariane 6 from ArianeGroup for ESA, which could launch late this year

• ULA’s Vulcan, which had its first flight delayed from this month until June or July

• And Blue Origin’s New Glenn, which has been delayed multiple times

The tech: Ellis said the company isn’t ready to reveal all the details of its new printing techniques. But he did say they would work with different metals, like copper and high-strength, nickel-based alloys that can withstand high temperatures.

He also said Terran-R’s large nozzle could not be printed using old techniques.

“There’s a very large regeneratively cooled nozzle skirt, so that gives really good performance so you don’t need a bunch of foam cooling, but it’s also quite big and detailed,” he said. “So we had to create a new printing tech that is basically more detailed, but still does very large things.”

Launch focused: Despite the planned advancements in 3D-printing tech, Ellis said the company is still focused on launch, not on monetizing its printing capabilities to build things other than rockets.

“The launch market itself is just such a burning need and problem that needs to be solved. I’m very convinced, it’s inevitable that somebody’s going to be the next great launch company,” he said. “We’re really just very focused on getting there and not getting spread too thin.”

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Collegiate Space Race

The University of Texas Rocket Engineering Lab is set to hot fire test its engine today as it ramps up to a Kármán Line launch attempt in 2024. UT is one of 20+ schools racing to be the first collegiate group to launch a liquid-fueled rocket to space.

Although the Kármán Line has been achieved using solid-fueled rockets, no school has reached space with a liquid-fuel rocket. While Texas is hoping to be the first, other universities, including Purdue, Berkeley, UCLA, Georgia Tech, and Concordia University are rapidly progressing toward this goal.

The specs: Texas’s launch vehicle, dubbed Halcyon, is a 30-ft tall kerosene-propelled rocket. A team of 232 undergraduate students has been working on its construction, designing everything including the COPV tanks, flight computers, and engine.

Industry partnership: Collegiate rocket teams across the country have leaned on industry support to help fund and guide their programs to the Kármán Line. The Texas team estimates more than $2M in cash and in-kind donations have been committed to the lab.

• Raytheon, Velo3D, and Lockheed have provided the Texas team with significant contributions, while Firefly has opened its facilities for equipment use and engine testing.

Preparing a space workforce: As barriers to entry in rocketry continue to decrease, amateur rocket teams have taken rapid strides in advancing their technical capabilities. The result is a cohort of students well prepared to join the space workforce post-graduation.

“What’s really important here is student groups working on ambitious projects that scale to industry groups. Suddenly you have new grads that are insanely more qualified than ever before,” said Buckner Newberry, UT’s student director of fluids and propulsion.

In Other News

• ESA is working to troubleshoot JUICE’s ice-penetrating radar antenna, which won’t fully unfurl, while the spacecraft makes its way to Jupiter.

• Blue Origin opened a new office in Phoenix, housing avionics, systems engineering, and supply chain management employees.

• Falcon Heavy launched on its 6th mission from Cape Canaveral Sunday night.

• Planet Labs ($PL) 2022 sales increased 46% YoY, reaching $191M.

• Satellogic ($SATL) revenue increased by 42% YoY to $6M for all of 2022.

• Spaceport Cornwall opened its space systems operations facility enabling customers to build and launch satellites on site.

• SpaceX will spend $2B on Starship development this year.

• Orienspace, a Chinese startup, is set to launch its Gravity-1 rocket from the sea in the second half of 2023.

The View from Space

BlackSky says it has released the “first and only known public image” of a lighter-than-air craft at the Korla East Test Site in China. BlackSky CEO Brian O’Toole said the pic shows how the company “has permanently changed how humanity will use space to deliver actionable intelligence.”