Relativity’s updated Stargate 3D printer | Image: Relativity Space
Aerospace startup Relativity Space — the company that aims to launch the first fully 3D-printed rocket to orbit — says it has raised all of the money it needs to launch its first mission and then enter commercial operations as early as 2021. After raising $140 million in its latest funding round, Relativity says its total funding now equals $185 million, which is enough money to carry the company through its first flights over the next couple of years.
Started by former engineers at Blue Origin and SpaceX, Relativity has grand ambitions to create all of its vehicles — from the engines to the fuselage — using 3D printing almost exclusively. The goal is to overhaul how rockets have been built for the last 50 years by taking people out of…