Relativity Space signs agreement to use its additively manufactured Terran R to launch Intelsat satellites
October 17, 2023
Relativity Space, based in Long Beach, California, USA, has signed a multi-year Launch Services Agreement (LSA) with Intelsat, the operator of the largest integrated space and terrestrial network. Under this agreement, Relativity will launch Intelsat satellites on the additively manufactured Terran R from 2026.
As a medium-to-heavy lift reusable launch vehicle, Terran R provides both government and commercial customers access to space in Low and Medium Earth Orbits (LEO and MEO) and Geostationary Equatorial Orbit (GEO) and beyond. Relativity is said to have a total of nine signed customers for Terran R, including multiple launches and totalling more than $1.8 billion in backlog.
“We are honoured to be working with Intelsat to launch future spacecraft into their industry leading satellite fleet,” said Tim Ellis, co-founder and CEO of Relativity Space. “They have an incredible company and team as a world leader in content connectivity with nearly sixty satellites already in orbit. The space industry clearly requires more commercially competitive, diversified, and disruptive launch capacity. Relativity is developing Terran R as a customer-focused reusable launch vehicle to solve this need. We look forward to planning, executing, and successfully launching these missions together with Intelsat.”
Jean-Luc Froeliger, Senior Vice President of Space Systems, Intelsat, added, “After sixty years of commercial satellite launches, Intelsat and our customers have come to expect reliability, efficiency and flexibility from our launch providers. Relativity has developed an innovative design and production process for the Terran R, which will deliver benefits to Intelsat for years to come.”
Terran R was developed to accommodate the growing demand for large constellation launch services. With a payload fairing that offers the right market fit to meet a variety of needs, Terran R supports use cases from dedicated payload deployments of constellation customers or single geosynchronous satellites to rideshare configurations for multiple customers per launch.
Terran R is designed and manufactured at Relativity’s headquarters in Long Beach, California, which is home to its fourth-generation Stargate metal Additive Manufacturing machines. Stage and engine testing is conducted at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and Terran R will launch Intelsat missions from Space Launch Complex 16, Relativity’s orbital launch site at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
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