Did you hear about Relativity Space launching a rocket earlier this month? It was out of this world!
Pictures of the Rocket Launch that occurred on March 22, 2023 (Taken from Relativity Space’s Twitter)
Using KUKA’s robotic arms, Relativity Space 3D printed a rocket that is 85% 3D printed by mass. This rocket nicknamed, “Good Luck, Have Fun”, is the first-ever rocket that was 3D printed and launched into space! This is one of the biggest advancements in aerospace technology in the last 60 years!
Before this extraordinary event took place, 3D printing on this scale had never been done before, and never with this goal of making it to space. Thanks to KUKA’s technology, Relativity Space was able to melt layers upon layers of a custom aluminum alloy together – making a rocket that stands at 33.5 meters tall and weighing approximately 9,280 kilograms!
Traditionally, rockets can take anywhere from 2 to 5 years to manufacture. Using 3D printing, manufacturing rockets takes as little as 60 days!
Here is a video of the rocket launch that occurred on March 22 2023!
As illustrated in the video, the 3D printed rocket reached a peak velocity of 7,448 kilometers per hour. It made it past the 100km Karman Line before crashing down in the Atlantic Ocean.
It is the first methane fueled rocket to successfully complete stage 1 flight and reach space. Demonstrating that this is the beginning of a new endeavor for aerospace technology! Relativity Space will learn from this experience with the collected data from “Good Luck, Have Fun” and improve their operations to strive for the goal of 3D printing a rocket 95% by mass.
We hope you had a blast reading about this story! We are looking forward to seeing Relativity and KUKA reach their new goal!
