Jeff Bezos excursions Relativity Area headquarters with Tim Ellis

The founders of two personal rocket-building corporations met right this moment – one, the richest individual on Earth; the opposite, chief of a enterprise pushing the boundaries of producing.

Jeff Bezos stopped by the gleaming new “manufacturing facility of the longer term” of Relativity Area on Friday, an individual conversant in the go to informed CNBC, for a tour of the Lengthy Seaside, California facility with CEO Tim Ellis. Relativity moved into the brand new facility final summer time from its prior headquarters in Inglewood.

The character of the go to to Relativity’s headquarters was unclear.

Ellis beforehand labored at Bezos’ house firm Blue Origin as a propulsion engineer – and was credited for bringing the method of 3D printing steel rocket elements in-house. Ellis then left Blue Origin in 2015 to discovered Relativity with Jordan Noone, a university classmate and former SpaceX propulsion engineer.

Relativity declined CNBC’s request for touch upon Bezos’ go to, whereas Blue Origin didn’t reply to requests for remark.

Relativity has gone all in on the 3D-printing method, utilizing monumental printers and metallurgy developed in-house to construct 95% of the elements of its rockets. Ellis emphasizes that 3D-printing drastically cuts down on the complexity of its rockets, but additionally makes them quicker to construct and modify. Finally, Relativity says its less complicated course of will be capable of flip uncooked supplies right into a rocket on the launchpad in below 60 days.

The corporate’s first rocket, Terran 1, is anticipated to launch for the primary time later this 12 months. Terran 1 is priced at $12 million per launch and is designed to hold about 1,250 kilograms to low Earth orbit. That places Terran 1 within the “medium carry” part of the U.S. launch market, between Rocket Lab’s Electron and SpaceX’s Falcon 9 in each worth and functionality.

Relativity can be engaged on a second, bigger rocket referred to as Terran R – aiming to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket in each launch functionality and reusability. Terran R is the primary of a number of new initiatives that Ellis expects Relativity to unveil within the 12 months forward, with the corporate having raised greater than $680 million since its founding 5 years in the past.