For a factory where robots toil around the clock to build a rocket with almost no human labour, the sound of grunts echoing across the parking lot make for a jarring contrast. "That's Keanu Reeves' stunt gym," says Tim Ellis, the chief executive and cofounder of Relativity Space, a startup that wants to combine 3D printing and artificial intelligence to do for the rocket what Henry Ford did for the automobile. As we walk among the robots occupying Relativity's factory, he points out the just-completed upper stage of the company's rocket, which will soon be shipped to Mississippi for its first tests. Across the way, he says, gesturing to the outside world, is a recording studio run by Snoop Dogg. Neither of those A-listers have paid a visit to Relativity's rocket factory, but the presence of these unlikely neighbours seems to underscore the company's main talking point: It can make rockets anywhere.

A new company founded by two former USC students wants to change the way rockets are made by using enormous 3-D printers. The company's initial project is called Terran-1, a 100-foot tall rocket that initially will carry satellites of up to 2,800 pounds into orbit around the earth. The current plan is to radically simplify manufacturing, using 100 times fewer parts to create a rocket that's so easy to manufacture, an AI can handle it. Relativity Space is based in Los Angeles, where its working on building a rocket that could launch as early as 2021. Relativity's founders see 3-D printing as the key to the company's success.