Tim Ellis

About

Tim Ellis co-founded Relativity Space in 2015 with classmate Jordan Noone on the thesis that additive manufacturing could collapse the cost and lead time of building rockets, with the long-term goal of 3D printing the first rocket made on Mars. He earned a BS and MS in Aerospace Engineering from USC's Viterbi School, where he led the Rocket Propulsion Lab and helped launch the first student-designed rocket to space, before doing three internships at Blue Origin. Ellis served as Relativity's CEO until March 2025, when he stepped aside as former Google CEO Eric Schmidt took over as CEO; Ellis remains on the board. He raised the company's first $500K seed by cold-emailing Mark Cuban.

Previous roles

• Propulsion Development Engineer, Blue Origin — brought metal 3D printing in-house and worked on Crew Capsule RCS thrusters, BE-4, and New Glenn
• Chief Executive Officer, Relativity Space (2015–2025)
• Student leader, USC Rocket Propulsion Laboratory

Notable work

• Co-founded Relativity Space and led development of its robotic metal additive-manufacturing approach for launch vehicles, including the Stargate printer family
• Led the program that developed and launched Terran 1, demonstrating a nearly entirely 3D-printed methane-fueled rocket through maximum aerodynamic pressure and stage separation
• Advanced the long-term concept of using automated additive manufacturing to build rockets and industrial infrastructure on Mars

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