NASA launches commercial studies to facilitate Mars robotic science

NASA launches commercial studies to facilitate Mars robotic science
by Clarence Oxford
Los Angeles CA (SPX) May 02, 2024
NASA has commissioned 12 concept studies from nine U.S. companies to explore how commercial services could support scientific missions to Mars. These studies, funded between $200,000 and $300,000 each, will investigate various services including payload delivery, communications relay, surface imaging, and payload hosting to aid future missions to Mars.

The initiative began with a request for proposals issued on January 29, targeting U.S. industries to support the Mars Exploration Program's goal of advancing high-priority science objectives. The selected proposals aim to adapt existing projects, currently oriented towards the Moon and Earth, for Mars applications.

The services under consideration include "space tugs" to transport spacecraft, platforms for hosting scientific instruments, and telecommunications relays. These services are part of a broader strategy to foster partnerships among government, industry, and international entities, aiming to enable more frequent, cost-effective Mars missions over the next two decades.

"We're in an exciting new era of space exploration, with rapid growth of commercial interest and capabilities," stated Eric Ianson, director of NASA's Mars Exploration Program. "Now is the right time for NASA to begin looking at how public-private partnerships could support science at Mars in the coming decades."

The Mars Exploration Commercial Services studies are categorized into:

- Small payload delivery and hosting services
- Lockheed Martin Corporation, Littleton, Colorado - adapt a lunar-exploration spacecraft
- Impulse Space, Inc., Redondo Beach, California - adapt an Earth-vicinity orbital transfer vehicle (space tug)
- Firefly Aerospace, Cedar Park, Texas - adapt a lunar-exploration spacecraft

- Large payload delivery and hosting services
- United Launch Services (ULA), LLC, Centennial, Colorado - modify an Earth-vicinity cryogenic upper stage
- Blue Origin, LLC, Kent, Washington - adapt an Earth- and lunar-vicinity spacecraft
- Astrobotic Technology, Inc., Pittsburgh - modify a lunar-exploration spacecraft

- Mars surface-imaging services
- Albedo Space Corporation, Broomfield, Colorado - adapt a low Earth orbit imaging satellite
- Redwire Space, Inc., Littleton, Colorado - modify a low Earth orbit commercial imaging spacecraft
- Astrobotic Technology, Inc. - modify a lunar exploration spacecraft to include imaging

- Next-generation relay services
- Space Exploration Technologies Corporation (SpaceX), Hawthorne, California - adapt Earth-orbit communication satellites for Mars
- Lockheed Martin Corporation - provide communication relay services via a modified Mars orbiter
- Blue Origin, LLC - provide communication relay services via an adapted Earth- and lunar-vicinity spacecraft

The studies, scheduled to conclude in August, may influence future requests for proposals but do not guarantee NASA commitment. Concurrently, NASA is also seeking proposals for its Mars Sample Return campaign, aimed at retrieving samples from Mars for Earth-based analysis, separate from the commercial services studies.