Blue Origin to build NASA Mars telecommunications orbiter
NASA awarded Blue Origin a $700 million contract to build the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, a spacecraft designed to provide navigation services and high-speed, continuous communication between Earth and Mars. Blue Origin says the orbiter will use its Blue Ring platform, include 13 ports for instruments or small uncrewed craft, and will support existing Mars assets such as Perseverance and Curiosity. The company must ready the spacecraft by the end of 2028 for operations around Mars by 2030 and also provide launch and network operations, even as its New Glenn rocket recovers from a May explosion and returns to flight testing.
NASA awarded Blue Origin $700 million to build a Mars communications orbiter.
Context
NASA announced the contract as part of plans to send astronauts to Mars in the 2030s. The agency is also advancing Artemis lunar work that will help test systems. Blue Origin must ready the orbiter and launch capability next for the Mars…
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