NASA has selected Blue Origin as its telecommunications services provider for Mars. The contract, worth up to $700 million, covers the development of a high-performance spacecraft for communications at Mars and in its vicinity. The spacecraft is due to be ready by December 31, 2028.
Once operational, it will relay scientific data, imagery, navigation data, and other critical information for spacecraft operating at and around Mars. NASA needs a reliable communications link with the planet mainly for its Artemis program, under which the agency is developing the Moon as a stepping stone toward crewed missions to Mars. Artemis has been moving forward relatively slowly, though astronauts already completed a lunar flyby this year. As missions get closer to Mars, the volume of data they need to send back to Earth will keep growing.
That is why NASA arranged for a dedicated Mars network well in advance. Blue Origin won the contract through a tender NASA had opened for an orbital relay satellite linking Mars and Earth.
This is not Blue Origin’s first contract with NASA; the company is also building lunar landers for the agency’s Moon missions. Meanwhile, an explosion hit the launch pad Blue Origin uses for its New Glenn rocket program in May. The company’s CEO has promised to restore the pad by the end of 2026, while NASA expects that to happen no earlier than 2028.
