NASA has awarded Blue Origin a contract worth up to approximately $700m to develop a new Mars orbiter that will form the backbone of a next-generation telecommunications network around the Red Planet.
The contract covers the design, development, integration, launch and operation of a high-performance Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO), which NASA requires Blue Origin to deliver no later than December 31, 2028.
The spacecraft is expected to become operational as part of NASA’s Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN) by 2030.
The resulting network is designed to provide near-continuous communications between spacecraft at Mars and controllers on Earth, supporting high-bandwidth transfers of science data, images, navigation information and mission-critical communications.
It will also provide infrastructure that can expand as NASA’s robotic and eventual crewed missions to Mars increase.
Blue Origin selected to build Mars orbiter
The award represents a significant expansion of NASA’s approach to space communications, extending an increasingly commercial model beyond Earth orbit and the Moon.
Blue Origin will base the MTO on its Blue Ring spacecraft, an all-in-one platform currently being manufactured at the company’s dedicated facility in Huntsville, Alabama.
The platform combines solar electric and chemical propulsion, giving it the flexibility to manoeuvre in space while carrying and deploying multiple payloads.
Blue Origin says the architecture has been designed with future expansion in mind.
Blue Ring vehicles feature software-defined radios, orbital repositioning capabilities and a forward-compatible design intended to allow additional spacecraft to be incorporated into the telecommunications network over time.
Multiple Blue Ring spacecraft are already in production, with manufacturing capacity planned at four vehicles per year.
Tory Bruno, President of Blue National Security, added: “MTO is the backbone of America’s Mars exploration programme for the next decade and beyond and will provide the reliable communications capacity that will keep future robotic and human missions connected to each other and to Earth.
“This awarded contract is a testament to the Blue Origin team that has been building Blue Ring with exactly this kind of mission in mind. We’re ready, and so is the hardware.”
Building communications infrastructure around Mars
The need for a dedicated Mars communications system is being driven by the increasing number and complexity of missions operating at the planet.
Mars currently hosts a mixture of orbiters, landers and rovers, each generating scientific observations and other data that must ultimately reach researchers on Earth. A
s NASA and its partners send more spacecraft to Mars, existing communications infrastructure will face growing demands for capacity and reliability.
A dedicated Mars orbiter that can act as a communications relay could help address that challenge by providing a central link between surface and orbital assets and ground controllers.
The MTO is also intended to support navigation services, giving future missions another layer of infrastructure as activity around Mars expands.
Preparing for human missions
NASA sees the telecommunications network as part of the broader infrastructure required to make sustained Mars exploration possible.
Through its Artemis programme, NASA is using lunar missions to develop technologies, operations and experience that could eventually support human missions to Mars.
Robotic spacecraft will play an important role in this process, mapping the planet, studying its environment and demonstrating technologies ahead of crewed exploration.
A communications network designed specifically for Mars could therefore become increasingly important as missions move beyond individual robotic expeditions towards a more connected exploration architecture.
The planned system is expected to provide greater capacity and operational flexibility than relying on individual spacecraft and existing communications arrangements.
Commercial approach extends deeper into space
The Blue Origin award also reflects NASA’s growing reliance on commercial companies to provide elements of its space infrastructure.
The agency has increasingly turned to private-sector providers for transportation, communications and other capabilities in Earth orbit and around the Moon.
The MTN extends that strategy to the Red Planet, allowing NASA to procure infrastructure while concentrating its own resources on scientific research and exploration.
If the programme stays on schedule, the MTO will provide a major new communications link at Mars by 2030.
More importantly, NASA expects the network to evolve alongside future missions, creating infrastructure intended to support Mars exploration from today’s robotic spacecraft through to the agency’s longer-term ambitions for human exploration.
