Blue Origin will construct NASA’s subsequent Mars orbiter.
The company introduced on Tuesday (Sept. 1) that it has chosen Jeff Bezos‘ spaceflight firm to develop the $700 million Mars Telecommunications Community (MTN), which is predicted to be up and working on the Crimson Planet by 2030.
“The award marks a milestone in NASA’s technique to broaden communications and navigation providers past Earth and the moon, establishing the muse for sustained exploration of Mars within the coming a long time,” NASA officers stated in a statement on Tuesday.
As its identify suggests, the MTN — beforehand generally known as the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter — will primarily serve to help NASA science missions moderately than collect information of its personal.
The MTN is “a next-generation communications system that may allow dependable, high-bandwidth communications and navigation providers for present and future Mars missions,” NASA officers stated within the assertion.
The necessity for such a data-relay craft is predicted to change into acute within the coming years as NASA’s fleet of present Mars orbiters ages and the company works to arrange the Crimson Planet floor for crewed missions within the late 2030s or early 2040s.
In the meanwhile, simply two NASA orbiters relay information and instructions between the company’s Curiosity and Perseverance Mars rovers and their handlers on Earth — Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which launched in 2001 and 2005, respectively. The European Area Company’s Mars Specific and Hint Gasoline Orbiter spacecraft assist out as nicely.
All 4 of those orbiters are gathering science information of their very own, nonetheless. The MTN won’t have a cut up focus; will probably be a devoted communications craft.
Our Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, constructed upon the Blue Ring platform, will strengthen the communications spine on the Crimson Planet whereas creating new pathways for science. Able to delivering a number of payloads to the floor and orbits of Mars, it drives discovery at this time and… pic.twitter.com/nCN8zMAWCkMarch 5, 2026
NASA acquired $700 million for a Mars telecom orbiter in July 2025, when Congress handed a funds reconciliation invoice. The company laid out necessities for the spacecraft in February of this 12 months, then issued a request for proposals in May.
Blue Origin and Rocket Lab have been considered because the front-runners for the contract, and each pushed exhausting for it, touting their bona fides and experience.
Blue Origin received out in the long run, nonetheless. The corporate will base MTN on its Blue Ring spacecraft platform, which it describes as “an all-in-one, high-powered hybrid photo voltaic electrical and chemical propelled spacecraft that gives unmatched mission maneuverability, versatility, and capability at dramatically decrease profile prices.”
Blue Ring has not flown a mission but, however a prototype model of it went to house on the first-ever launch of Blue Origin’s highly effective New Glenn rocket in January 2025. Although Blue Ring can fly on different rockets as nicely, MTN will presumably launch on a New Glenn; the newly introduced NASA contract requires Blue Origin to “design, develop, combine, launch and function” the Mars telecom mission.
The contract requires Blue Origin to ship the spacecraft to NASA no later than Dec. 31, 2028.
