NASA Selects Relativity Space for Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) Mission
Relativity is eligible to serve as one of 12 companies offering NASA new commercial launch opportunities in the U.S. market, with contracts totaling $300 million
Long Beach, California (January 27, 2022) – Relativity Space, announced today that the company has been selected by NASA as one of 12 companies to provide launch services for the agency’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) missions, providing new opportunities for science and technology payloads and fostering a growing U.S. commercial launch market.
“Relativity is honored to have been selected by NASA for this contract award and we look forward to continuing to deepen our relationship with the agency,” said Josh Brost, Vice President of Business Development at Relativity. “We see this selection as an important next step after our NASA VCLS-2 mission that will be flying later this year.”
The fixed-price indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract has a five-year ordering period with a maximum total value of $300 million across all 12 contracts.
“We are incredibly excited to announce the awardees for VADR from a broad range of established and emerging launch providers and launch service aggregators and brokers,” said Bradley Smith, director of launch services at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “This speaks to our expertise in understanding the launch market as we crafted VADR to maximize our efforts in enabling a growing U.S launch industry. With this new tool in our toolbox, these tremendously flexible contracts will meet a wide variety of NASA science and technology needs, further enhancing the agency’s Launch Services Program’s reputation as Earth’s bridge to space.”
The VADR contract will provide a broad range of Federal Aviation Administration-licensed commercial launch services capable of delivering payloads ranging from CubeSats to Class D missions to a variety of orbits. These small satellites and Class D payloads tolerate relatively high risk and serve as an ideal platform for technical and architecture innovation, contributing to NASA’s science research and technology development.
The VADR acquisition builds on previous procurement efforts such as the Venture Class Launch Services (VCLS) and VCLS Demo 2 contracts, which are fostering development of new, small launch vehicles for NASA payloads.
A firm-fixed-price task order will be issued to provide the launch services under Relativity’s contract for NASA and NASA-sponsored missions. Launches under the VADR contract will align with commercial practices, using less NASA oversight to achieve lower launch costs.
With the addition of its NASA VADR contract, Relativity’s first rocket, Terran 1, continues to be the most pre-sold rocket in history prior to launch. To date, Relativity has secured contracts for Terran 1 launches from both commercial and government entities, including the upcoming NASA VCLS-2 mission later this year.
About Relativity Space
Relativity is building humanity’s multiplanetary future. We invented a new approach to design, print, and fly our own rockets, starting with the world’s first entirely 3D-printed rocket, Terran 1, and Terran R, a larger, fully reusable, entirely 3D-printed launch vehicle.
As a vertically integrated technology platform, Relativity is at the forefront of an inevitable shift toward software-defined manufacturing. By fusing 3D printing, artificial intelligence, and autonomous robotics, we are pioneering the factory of the future. Disrupting 60 years of aerospace, Relativity offers a radically simplified supply chain, building a rocket with 100x fewer parts in less than 60 days.
We believe in a future where interplanetary life fundamentally expands the possibilities for human experience. Our long-term vision is to upgrade humanity’s industrial base on Earth and on Mars.
Relativity Space is backed by leading investors including Baillie Gifford, Blackrock, BOND, Coatue, Fidelity, General Catalyst, ICONIQ Capital, K5 Global, Mark Cuban, Playground Global, Social Capital, Tiger Global, Tribe Capital, Y Combinator, and 3L. For more information, please visit relativityspace.com or connect with us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram or YouTube.