Relativity Space, a space startup acquired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt last year, has a chance to beat Elon Musk’s SpaceX to the Red Planet. NASA has selected the company to develop and launch a mission to explore the Martian atmosphere.
Relativity Space, a space startup acquired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt last year, has a chance to beat Elon Musk’s SpaceX to the Red Planet. NASA has selected the company to develop and launch a mission to explore the Martian atmosphere.
As TechCrunch reports, citing a NASA statement, a private company has been hired to build the spacecraft, integrate scientific instruments, and deliver cargo directly to Mars. Financial details of the deal are not being disclosed at this time — neither the space agency nor representatives of Relativity Space commented on the value of the contract when asked by reporters.
The mission, called Aeolus, will carry four scientific instruments designed to survey and measure Mars’s characteristics from orbit. The data is expected to help NASA compile the first daily global picture of dust, winds and temperatures in the planet’s atmosphere, which will make future landings of robotic stations and manned missions much safer.
The structure of this agreement resembles contracts that NASA previously concluded with SpaceX (for cargo delivery to the ISS) or with Firefly Aerospace (for landing a module on the Moon). The state takes on the scientific component, while private business provides a cheaper and more flexible delivery infrastructure.
«By combining NASA’s world-class instruments with commercial innovation and investment, we will be able to conduct more scientific research, get results more often, and reduce the time it takes to transmit critical data to researchers preparing for future manned missions to Mars,» said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
The mission is scheduled to launch in 2028. This is an extremely ambitious schedule for Relativity Space, as the company needs to not only design and build the Mars rover itself for Aeolus instruments, but also complete the development of its new launch vehicle. Today, the technological reliability of the startup’s solutions remains in question, so NASA is taking a conscious risk, given the previous failures and bankruptcies of other private partners.
For Eric Schmidt, the contract is an opportunity to bypass his longtime rival in the AI safety debate, Elon Musk. Despite the SpaceX founder’s long-standing promise to colonize Mars, his company has yet to send a targeted mission to the planet. If Aeolus launches as scheduled in 2028, Relativity Space could become the first private company to successfully orbit Mars.
It was previously reported that the US is supplying the Middle East with thousands of Merops complexes with Surveyor anti-aircraft drones, developed by Eric Schmidt’s company. They were created based on the expertise of the Ukrainian military and tested in Ukraine.
