Relativity Space hopes to live additively ever after with Wednesday’s launch

Enlarge / The Terran 1 rocket as seen on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral. (credit: Relativity Space/Trevor Mahlmann)

Relativity Space, the ambitious company that aims to additively manufacture the majority of its rockets, will try again to make the debut launch of its Terran 1 vehicle on Wednesday evening from Florida.

The California-based company has a three-hour launch window that opens at 10 pm local time at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (02:00 UTC on Thursday). The current forecast for the launch attempt is splendid, with a 95 percent chance of acceptable conditions, according to the US Space Force officials operating the range.

If recent history is any guide, Wednesday's launch attempt may consume most of the three-hour window. Relativity's first attempt to launch Terran 1, on March 8, was scrubbed near the end of the window due to problems with a fuel-temperature sensor on the second stage. A second attempt three days later did not get off the ground due to an array of issues, including last-second aborts, weather concerns, and a boat in the protected area around the launch site.