NASA’s New Mars Partnership Sets Up A Private Race With SpaceX
The deal is a massive victory for Relativity Space, the rocket manufacturer acquired last year by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt after the startup stumbled on its initial development plans. Under a novel six-year reimbursable Space Act Agreement, Relativity will privately develop and manage the spacecraft, providing its upcoming Terran R rocket for the launch alongside cruise operations to guide the vehicle to Mars. Similar to contracts made recently with Firefly Aerospace (moon lander with drones) and SpaceX (cargo to ISS), NASA is acting as a key customer and scientific partner.
NASA's primary contribution to the mission is a state-of-the-art atmospheric science instrument payload called Aeolus. Built at NASA's Ames Research Center, Aeolus consists of four specialized instruments, including the Doppler Wind and Temperature Sounder and a Thermal Limb Sounder. Together, they will provide the first integrated, daily, global view of Martian winds, surface energy, dust, and temperature profiles.
The data gathered during its minimum one-Martian-year lifespan will help researchers map global atmospheric changes and better model the seasonal dust storms that threaten surface infrastructure. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman called the partnership a "force multiplier for science," noting that combining agency instruments with nimble commercial innovation will drastically shorten the timeline for getting crucial data into the hands of researchers.
Consequently, this new partnership injects a fierce corporate rivalry into the cosmos. By targeting a 2028 launch to the Red Planet, Eric Schmidt has basically set up an interplanetary race with Elon Musk's SpaceX, a frequent rival of Schmidt’s in terrestrial tech circles. Despite years of vocal promises to colonize Mars, SpaceX has yet to launch its own independent mission to the planet. So if Relativity Space can successfully execute its aggressive development timeline over the next two years, it could secure the title of landing the first-ever private mission to Mars.
