NASA Selects Blue Origin to Build Mars Telecommunications Network

NASA has awarded Blue Origin a contract to develop the agency's Mars Telecommunications Network, a next-generation system meant to provide reliable, high-bandwidth communications and navigation services for current and future Mars missions. The firm-fixed-price contract has a maximum potential value of about $700 million. It requires Blue Origin to deliver a high-performance Mars telecommunications orbiter to NASA no later than December 31, 2028.

Blue Origin will design, develop, integrate, launch and operate the network as part of NASA's broader space communications and navigation infrastructure. The system will consist of a high-performance telecommunications spacecraft orbiting Mars. It will transmit science data, imagery, navigation information and critical mission communications for spacecraft operating on and around the planet.

The award follows a request for proposals NASA issued in May. It marks a milestone in the agency's strategy to expand communications and navigation services beyond Earth and the Moon, laying the groundwork for sustained exploration of Mars in the coming decades. Under NASA's Artemis program, astronauts are being sent to the Moon to help prepare for eventual missions to Mars, while robotic missions pave the way for that human exploration.

The network will be managed by NASA's Space Communications and Navigation program. It is expected to be operational at Mars by 2030 and will support both current and future missions to the planet as demand for data grows.