The image featured an impressively large payload fairing, which protects satellites on the ride into space. "Time to take a look at Terran R's payload envelope," the company said, calling attention to three people standing to the left of the tall fairing. The seemingly innocent post sparked scrutiny, illustrating that appearances can often be misleading in the aerospace industry.
A little digging into the photo revealed some interesting details. For example, the exit sign in the background is characteristic of those found in Europe rather than the United States. Soon, it became clear that this photo was taken inside the fairing factory of a company called Beyond Gravity, formerly known as Ruag Space, which is based in Emmen, Switzerland.
In fact, the only thing that can be confirmed to be related to Relativity Space in this photo is the man at the far left-Drew Hess, senior mission management official at Relativity. The public release of a photo suggestive of a payload fairing that Relativity built for its Terran R rocket-but which seems to be an Ariane 6 payload fairing manufactured many months ago-is confusing at best.
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