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Relativity Space reveals plans to rapidly upgrade 3D-printed Terran 1 rocket
Relativity Space has announced that it will only launch the first version of its small Terran 1 rocket a handful of times before upgrading the vehicle in ways that will aid work on a much larger, fully reusable rocket.
Relativity co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis revealed the news in a recent interview, explaining that while the original Terran 1 rocket is still an integral part of the company’s vision and success, it will mainly serve as a bridge to the larger and more capable Terran R – a rare rocket with the potential to compete head-to-head with SpaceX’s Falcon 9.
“We’ve always envisioned Terran 1 being a development platform,” stated Ellis in an interview with Ars Technica. The Terran 1 rocket, which is thrust into orbit using nine proprietary Aeon-1 engines is designed to carry payloads into Low Earth Orbit (LEO). The first launch of Terran 1 is anticipated to take place by the end of 2022, with Ellis stating that Relativity is “definitely launching this year.” Terran 1’s first launch won’t carry payloads, indicating its experimental nature, but it will be serving as the startup’s first orbital launch attempt.
Assuming the rocket’s debut is mostly successful, Terran 1’s second mission will carry a “Venture Class Launch Services” small satellite payload for NASA. The third and final mission for the first version of Terran 1 will also carry payloads, though Relativity has yet to reveal its customer(s).
Once completed, Ellis says Relativity will shift its focus away from the Aeon-1 engine setup on Terran 1’s booster. Instead, they will remove the nine Aeon-1 engines from the vehicle and replace them with a single 135-ton-thrust (~300,000 lbf) Aeon-R engine – seven of which will eventually power Terran R’s reusable booster.
When asked why the startup didn’t simply start with the Aeon-R engine, Ellis noted that developing a booster with nine smaller Aeon-1 engines was “definitely not the optimum choice in hindsight to get to orbit as simply and quickly as possible for the Terran 1 program.” He added, “But it’s been part of our plans to do a much larger reusable rocket for a long time. So we chose to do liquid oxygen and liquid methane engines, as well as the nine-engine configuration on Terran 1 so that we could learn as a company how to do something that complex early on before we had to go build this 20,000-kilogram payload-to-orbit vehicle.”
There are many benefits that come from using the single Aeon-R engine on Terran 1, including reduced cost, processes, and more capable rockets. By scaling down the number of engines from nine Aeon-1s to one Aeon-Rs, they are also scaling down the number of turbopumps, which will reduce labor and cost. The Aeon-R engine, seven of which will power the Terran R rocket, will also produce nearly ~300,000 pounds of thrust. This will provide the company with more capable small launch vehicles.
Ultimately, Relativity’s goal is to launch Terran R, a much larger, more powerful, and (in theory) fully-reusable rocket. Ellis stated that both the first and second stages of Terran R will be reusable, potentially allowing the rocket to directly compete with Falcon 9 – and maybe even the company’s fully-reusable Starship. SpaceX’s workhorse rocket has successfully launched 142 times and the company appears to be more confident in it than ever before. In 2022 alone, SpaceX hopes to launch an average of one Falcon rocket per week.
Despite the fact that SpaceX successfully landed its first Falcon booster in 2015 and reused a booster on a commercial launch in 2017, traditional competitors like Arianespace and ULA have done little to respond and continue to develop new rockets – Vulcan Centaur and Ariane 6 – that are fully expendable, substantially more expensive than SpaceX’s offerings, and still without a clear path to reusability. Alongside Blue Origin’s New Glenn vehicle and Rocket Lab’s Neutron, Relativity’s Terran R rocket may actually be able to compete with Falcon 9.
Ellis further revealed that Terran R already has at least one signed customer, with many others expressing interest behind the scenes. Though the company’s official timeline is incredibly ambitious, Relativity says Terran R could launch as early as 2024, giving the company less than three years to develop the giant rocket from scratch.
It is still unclear how either stage of Terran R will be recovered, nor how the rocket will integrate into the already existing launch facilities being built for Terran 1 at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s (CCSFS) LC-16 pad. Nonetheless, Ellis and the entire Relativity team seem determined to deliver on their promises. Ellis didn’t shy away from bold and undeniable claims, either, stating that “we are definitely launching this year.” “I have no doubt about that…at this point, barring an act of nature or something going seriously wrong in stage testing.”
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Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025.
The Tesla Model Y recorded the highest overall safety score of any vehicle tested by ANCAP in 2025. The Tesla Model 3 also delivered strong results, reinforcing the automaker’s safety leadership in Australia and New Zealand.
According to ANCAP in a press release, the Tesla Model Y achieved the highest overall weighted score of any vehicle assessed in 2025. ANCAP’s 2025 tests evaluated vehicles across four key pillars: Adult Occupant Protection, Child Occupant Protection, Vulnerable Road User Protection, and Safety Assist technologies.
The Model Y posted consistently strong results in all four categories, distinguishing itself through a system-based safety approach that combines structural crash protection with advanced driver-assistance features such as autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring.
This marked the second time the Model Y has topped ANCAP’s annual safety rankings. The Model Y’s previous version was also ANCAP’s top performer in 2022.
The Tesla Model 3 also delivered a strong performance in ANCAP’s 2025 tests, contributing to Tesla’s broader safety presence across segments. Similar to the Model Y, the Model 3 also earned impressive scores across the ANCAP’s four pillars. This made the vehicle the top performer in the Medium Car category.
ANCAP Chief Executive Officer Carla Hoorweg stated that the results highlight a growing industry shift toward integrated safety design, with improvements in technologies such as autonomous emergency braking and lane support translating into meaningful real-world protection.
“ANCAP’s testing continues to reinforce a clear message: the safest vehicles are those designed with safety as a system, not a checklist. The top performers this year delivered consistent results across physical crash protection, crash avoidance and vulnerable road user safety, rather than relying on strength in a single area.
“We are also seeing increasing alignment between ANCAP’s test requirements and the safety technologies that genuinely matter on Australian and New Zealand roads. Improvements in autonomous emergency braking, lane support, and driver monitoring systems are translating into more robust protection,” Hoorweg said.
News
Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade
Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery.
Tesla Sweden has successfully launched a new Supercharger station despite an ongoing blockade by Swedish unions, using on-site Megapack batteries instead of traditional grid connections. The workaround has allowed the Supercharger to operate without direct access to Sweden’s electricity network, which has been effectively frozen by labor action.
Tesla has experienced notable challenges connecting its new charging stations to Sweden’s power grid due to industrial action led by Seko, a major Swedish trade union, which has blocked all new electrical connections for new Superchargers. On paper, this made the opening of new Supercharger sites almost impossible.
Despite the blockade, Tesla has continued to bring stations online. In Malmö and Södertälje, new Supercharger locations opened after grid operators E.ON and Telge Nät activated the sites. The operators later stated that the connections had been made in error.
More recently, however, Tesla adopted a different strategy altogether. Just before Christmas, Tesla went live with a new charging station in Arlandastad, outside Stockholm, by powering it with a Tesla Megapack battery, as noted in a Dagens Arbete (DA) report.
Because the Supercharger station does not rely on a permanent grid connection, Tesla was able to bypass the blocked application process, as noted by Swedish car journalist and YouTuber Peter Esse. He noted that the Arlandastad Supercharger is likely dependent on nearby companies to recharge the batteries, likely through private arrangements.
Eight new charging stalls have been launched in the Arlandastad site so far, which is a fraction of the originally planned 40 chargers for the location. Still, the fact that Tesla Sweden was able to work around the unions’ efforts once more is impressive, especially since Superchargers are used even by non-Tesla EVs.
Esse noted that Tesla’s Megapack workaround is not as easily replicated in other locations. Arlandastad is unique because neighboring operators already have access to grid power, making it possible for Tesla to source electricity indirectly. Still, Esse noted that the unions’ blockades have not affected sales as much.
“Many want Tesla to lose sales due to the union blockades. But you have to remember that sales are falling from 2024, when Tesla sold a record number of cars in Sweden. That year, the unions also had blockades against Tesla. So for Tesla as a charging operator, it is devastating. But for Tesla as a car company, it does not matter in terms of sales volumes. People charge their cars where there is an opportunity, usually at home,” Esse noted.
Elon Musk
Elon Musk’s X goes down as users report major outage Friday morning
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Elon Musk’s X experienced an outage Friday morning, leaving large numbers of users unable to access the social media platform.
Error messages and stalled loading screens quickly spread across the service, while outage trackers recorded a sharp spike in user reports.
Downdetector reports
Users attempting to open X were met with messages such as “Something went wrong. Try reloading,” often followed by an endless spinning icon that prevented access, according to a report from Variety. Downdetector data showed that reports of problems surged rapidly throughout the morning.
As of 10:52 a.m. ET, more than 100,000 users had reported issues with X. The data indicated that 56% of complaints were tied to the mobile app, while 33% were related to the website and roughly 10% cited server connection problems. The disruption appeared to begin around 10:10 a.m. ET, briefly eased around 10:35 a.m., and then returned minutes later.
Previous disruptions
Friday’s outage was not an isolated incident. X has experienced multiple high-profile service interruptions over the past two years. In November, tens of thousands of users reported widespread errors, including “Internal server error / Error code 500” messages. Cloudflare-related error messages were also reported.
In March 2025, the platform endured several brief outages spanning roughly 45 minutes, with more than 21,000 reports in the U.S. and 10,800 in the U.K., according to Downdetector. Earlier disruptions included an outage in August 2024 and impairments to key platform features in July 2023.
Tesla Model Y and Model 3 named safest vehicles tested by ANCAP in 2025
Tesla Sweden uses Megapack battery to bypass unions’ Supercharger blockade
