Relativity completes Terran R thrust section, continues testing ahead of first launch

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While SpaceX’s Falcon family continues to demonstrate reliable reuse of its first stages and fairings, other launch providers are actively developing competitors. One such rocket in work is Relativity Space’s Terran R, and the company recently showed good progress in working toward the vehicle’s first flight, which is now scheduled for late next year.

The first Terran R is under construction, with several components completed in recent weeks. One such component is the thrust section, which comprises the vehicle’s lower portion and where the first stage’s engines are attached. Other completed components of the first Terran R include all eight first-stage structural barrels and the first stage’s first two Aeon R flight engines.

The thrust section, made from 7140 and 7050 aluminum alloys and completed in August 2025, is one of the most intricate and complex parts of the Terran R vehicle. Following construction, the thrust section underwent a multi-week testing campaign at Relativity’s new test stand at its Long Beach, California, facility, where the Terran R is being built. This thrust section testing has now been completed.

Test objectives included simulating maximum dynamic pressure during flight, as well as the ability to withstand static fire pressures and other stresses the vehicle could endure. During testing, the thrust structure withstood 3.7 million pound-force (lbf) of tension and a peak load of 478,000 lbf in a single hold-down.

The testing also proved the thrust structure’s ability to withstand critical operations during ground operations. Besides tests on the stand, the company also conducted power and communications checkouts for hardware-in-the-loop testing for the thrust structure’s avionics. Relativity is targeting a complete vehicle hardware-in-the-loop test before the end of the year.

The thrust structure is now being integrated onto the flight vehicle, with brackets, fluids, and avionics also being added. The thrust structure for Terran R’s second flight is now under construction, along with critical avionics for the first flight, like the flight hub box that is Terran R’s central unit, distributing data and power to systems. Vibration testing of avionics, including power distribution boxes, is also underway.

All eight structural barrels of the first stage were welded by the end of August, and the company has started welding them together to form the first-stage body. This body will be attached to the thrust structure in due course. The two structural barrels for the second stage were finished in August as well.

Aeon R test firing at the E-1 test stand at the Stennis Space Center in 2024. (Credit: NASA/Stennis)

Both stages are made of 2195 aluminum, with structural stringers made of 2196 aluminum alloy. Terran R’s grid fins, like the Falcon family’s, will be made out of titanium, while the payload fairings will be made out of carbon composite. Although Terran 1 utilized 3D printing to construct the vehicle’s components, more conventional manufacturing methods are being used for the Terran R’s structure.

Also during August, Relativity completed 18 component-level critical design reviews, many of them for the second stage and the Aeon R vacuum-optimized engine. A development unit of the Aeon R vacuum engine started testing at the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, as well as the first Aeon R for the first Terran R flight.

The first flight-ready Aeon R completed a 475-second static fire, or the amount of time the engine is expected to fire during the first stage’s ascent. Relativity has also fired Aeon R using densified liquid oxygen; only SpaceX has used densified propellants in its vehicles so far. The company also completed the installation of cryogenic fluid storage tanks for the A2 test stand at Stennis and activated the test stand’s automation.

In September, Relativity finished another 19 component-level critical design reviews. The team is focused on releasing all second stage components before production need dates, and many components are now in production after passing critical design reviews.

Relativity Space’s Terran R first stage barrel section and second stage tank in the company’s Long Beach facility. (Credit: Relativity Space)

The second stage’s tank section is now finished and was painted in a recently finished paint booth at the company’s Long Beach facility. The first stage barrels were also finished and painted. Relativity is working to support advanced mass production at the facility, along with upgrades to the vehicle’s engines and systems, to support increased flight rates in the future.

Relativity also provided an update on the status of its launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Launch Complex-16 (LC-16) hosted Relativity’s only launch to date and will host Terran-R launches. The failed Terran 1 “Good Luck, Have Fun” mission on March 22, 2023, was followed by the company pivoting straight to Terran R development and retiring Terran 1.

A large processing hangar for Terran-R, complete with payload processing capabilities, is being built at LC-16. The Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) is fully framed in steel, and workers are now adding siding panels. North of the HIF, Relativity also laid deep foundations for two 162 m tall lightning protection towers.

Relativity Space’s LC-16 complex in September 2025. (Credit: Max Evans for NSF/L2)

Two 30,000-gallon liquid oxygen tanks have now been installed at the LC-16 tank farm, with other tanks for different commodities to be installed in due course. LC-16’s improvements to support Terran R are much more complete than they were at the beginning of the year. Terran R’s first flight, though presently scheduled for the second half of 2026, is subject to change, and much work remains.

The 82 m tall Terran R, with a published capability of launching — in a reusable configuration — 23,500 kg to low-Earth orbit or 5,500 kg to geosynchronous transfer orbit, is attempting to compete with other partially reusable vehicles like Falcon 9, Neutron, and New Glenn, along with the fully reusable Stoke Space Nova. Much like Falcon 9, Terran R’s first stage will land on an automated landing ship downrange after launch.

(Lead image: The first flight-ready Terran R thrust section undergoes testing. Credit: Relativity Space)

The post Relativity completes Terran R thrust section, continues testing ahead of first launch appeared first on NASASpaceFlight.com.



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