Relativity Space fires up latest Stargate rocket printer

Claimed to be the world’s largest metal 3D printer, the new Stargate prints horizontally and can produce objects 120 feet long and 24 feet wide, according to Relativity. The company also says the fourth generation is seven times faster than earlier iterations of Stargate.

As it moves horizontally, Stargate feeds multiple wires into a single print head, using a combination of computer vision, advanced sensors and real-time telemetry to monitor performance. According to Relativity, while the platform has been developed specifically for the rapid production of its own orbital rockets, Stargate also has wider potential across the aerospace, energy and defence sectors.

“Large-scale products that are designed to fly will inevitably be 3D printed,” said Tim Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Relativity Space. “The lighter a product is, the better it performs, and when 3D printing that product, it’s also faster and more cost-effective to produce with each successive improvement. The compounding rate of progress is high, and we are still in the early days of what printing can achieve.