Relativity Space, a rocket maker acquired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt last year after stumbling on the path to orbit, could beat SpaceX to Mars.
On Tuesday, NASA said it hired the company to build a spacecraft that would house a suite of scientific instruments, launch it into space and take it to Mars.
The contract structure is similar to agreements NASA made with SpaceX to transport cargo to the International Space Station, or Firefly Aerospace to place a lander on the Moon. The government agency handles the science, while the private company provides low-cost infrastructure.
Aeolus, as the mission is called, will contain four instruments to measure and image Mars from orbit, providing what NASA hopes will be the first daily global view of the dust, winds and temperature in its atmosphere. The agency said the data will make it safer for landers and, one day, astronauts to visit the surface of the Red Planet.
“By combining NASA’s world-class instruments with innovation and commercial investment, we can deliver more science, more often, and reduce the time it takes to put essential data in the hands of researchers preparing for future human missions to Mars,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement.
The mission will launch in 2028, a rapid pace that will require Relativity to design and build the spacecraft to carry the Aeolus instruments and finish building the rocket that will take it to space, all on a tight schedule. NASA did not disclose how much it is paying Relativity for the mission, and Relativity did not respond to questions from TechCrunch.
Isaacman, who has flown in space twice on private missions for SpaceX, has advocated for public-private partnerships like this one. Under this model, the company working with NASA assumes part of the project’s development cost, in exchange for allowing NASA to further stretch its budget, a structure that has become a model for how the agency funds ambitious missions without assuming all the financial risk.
But NASA is also taking risks: Relativity is unproven and there is no guarantee the mission will even take off. NASA’s previous initial partners went bankrupt or saw lunar landers arrive askew. The potential reward for the company is assumed to extend beyond NASA’s own contract, including commercial applications such as launching satellites or sending cargo to the Moon. Still, the more these partnerships reach into the space, the murkier the business services market becomes.
Relativity was founded in 2015 by two former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineers, with the idea of using 3D printing to its full potential as a path to building a cheaper rocket. The company’s first design, Terran-1, was launched in March 2023 and failed mid-flight. The relativity was doubled by moving to a larger design, called the Terran R.
Before Relativity could hit the launch pad, the company faced fundraising challenges, and Schmidt acquired a majority stake in the company last year, installing himself as CEO. He has been silent on the investment, but has expressed interest in orbital data centers and is believed to use Relativity to launch a space telescope, Lazuili, funded by his family’s philanthropy, Schmidt Sciences.
The former technology executive’s decision to take over a space company last year puzzled some observers because rocketry is a crowded and capital-intensive field. But pent-up demand for new rockets, fueled by delays at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, could still pay dividends for Schmidt if Terran R can indeed reach space.
And the new contract could give Schmidt a chance to one-up Elon Musk, his regular sparring partner on the topic of AI safety. While Musk has long talked about his Martian ambitions, SpaceX has never sent its own mission to Mars (no, the Tesla he launched into space in 2018 omitted).
If Relativity’s Aeolus launches on time, it could be the first private mission to reach the Red Planet.
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