Rocket maker Relativity Space, acquired last year by former Google executive Eric Schmidt after it stumbled on its way to orbit, could beat SpaceX to Mars.
On Tuesday, NASA said it has hired a company to build a spacecraft to deploy a suite of scientific instruments, launch it into space and fly to Mars.
The structure of the contract is similar to the deals that Firefly Aerospace has with SpaceX to fly cargo to the International Space Station or to place a lander on the Moon. A government agency does the science, and a private company provides cheap infrastructure.
The mission, named Aeolus, will consist of four instruments to measure and image Mars from orbit, providing NASA with the first daily, global view of dust, winds and temperature in its atmosphere. The agency said the information will make it safer for landers and someday astronauts to visit the Red Planet’s surface.
“By combining NASA’s world-class instruments with commercial innovation and investment, we can deliver more science more often and reduce the time it takes to get critical data into the hands of researchers preparing for future human missions to Mars,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.
The mission is slated to launch in 2028—a fast pace that will require Relativity to design and build a spacecraft to carry the Aeolus instruments, and a tight timeline to complete construction of the rocket that will carry it into space. NASA did not disclose how much Relativity paid for the mission, and Relativity did not respond to TechCrunch’s questions.
Isaacman, who has flown twice into space on private SpaceX missions, advocated for public-private partnerships like this one. Under this model, a company that works with NASA bears a portion of the project’s development costs in exchange for allowing NASA to further expand its budget—a structure that has become a template for how the agency finances ambitious missions without bearing all of the financial risk.
But NASA is also taking a risk: Relativity is unproven, and there’s no guarantee the mission will even get off the ground. NASA’s former startup partners have gone bankrupt or seen moon landers come crookedly. Potential profits for the company extend beyond the NASA contract itself, including commercial programs such as launching satellites or delivering payloads to the moon. Still, the further these collaborations reach into space, the bleaker the market for commercial services becomes.
Relativity was founded in 2015 by two former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineers with the idea of using 3D printing to its maximum potential to create a cheaper rocket. The company’s first design, the Terran-1, was launched in March 2023 and failed mid-flight. Relativity doubled Moving on to a larger design called the Terran R.
The company had trouble raising funds before Relativity made it to the startup pitch, and Schmidt took over a majority of the company last year and installed himself as CEO. He has been tight-lipped about the investment, but has expressed an interest in orbital data centers and is believed to be using Relativity to launch his Lazuili space telescope, funded by his family’s philanthropy, Schmidt Sciences.
The former tech executive’s decision to take over the aerospace company last year puzzled some observers because rocketry is a crowded and capital-intensive field. But increased demand for new rockets due to delays at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin could still bring a windfall for Schmidt if the Terran R actually makes it to space.
And the new deal could give Schmidt a chance to get ahead of Elon Musk, his regular sparring partner on AI security. Although Musk has long talked about his Mars ambitions, SpaceX has never sent a mission to Mars (no, Tesla did). It was launched into space in 2018 omitted).
If launched according to relativity’s Aeolus plan, it could be the first personal mission to reach the Red Planet.
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