NASA has made a bold move by selecting Relativity Space, the rocket company acquired last year by former Google executive chairman Eric Schmidt, to build and fly a scientific mission to Mars. The announcement on Tuesday marks a potential turning point in commercial space exploration, pitting a still-unproven startup against Elon Musk's SpaceX in a race to the Red Planet.
A public-private partnership for Mars exploration
The contract, named Aeolus, tasks Relativity Space with building a spacecraft to house a suite of scientific instruments, launching it into space, and flying it to Mars orbit. The structure is similar to previous NASA deals with SpaceX for cargo delivery to the International Space Station or with Firefly Aerospace for a lunar lander. The government agency handles the science, while the private company provides low-cost infrastructure.
The Aeolus mission will carry four instruments designed to measure and image Mars from orbit, providing what NASA expects to be the first daily, global view of dust, winds, and temperature in its atmosphere. The agency says this data will make it safer for landers and, eventually, astronauts to visit the Martian surface. NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stated: “By pairing 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 essential data into the hands of researchers preparing for future human missions to Mars.”
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The mission is scheduled to launch in 2028, a tight timeline requiring Relativity to design and build both the spacecraft for Aeolus instruments and the rocket that will carry it to space. NASA did not disclose the contract value, and Relativity did not respond to inquiries. Isaacman, who has flown to space twice on private SpaceX missions, has championed such public-private partnerships. Under this model, the company takes on some development costs in exchange for allowing NASA to stretch its budget further—a template that has become a blueprint for funding ambitious missions without bearing all the financial risk.
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Risks and opportunities for an untested company
But NASA is also taking on risk: Relativity is unproven, and there is no guarantee the mission will even get off the ground. Past startup partners of NASA have gone bankrupt or seen lunar landers arrive askew. The potential payoff for the company extends beyond the NASA contract, including commercial applications like launching satellites or delivering cargo to the Moon. Still, the farther out into space these partnerships reach, the murkier the market for commercial services.
Founded in 2015 by two former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineers, Relativity Space bet on 3D printing as a path to cheaper rockets. Its first design, Terran-1, launched in March 2023 but failed mid-flight. The company doubled down by moving to a larger design, Terran R. Before reaching the launch pad, Relativity faced fundraising challenges, and Schmidt took a majority stake last year, installing himself as CEO. He has been tight-lipped about the investment but expressed interest in orbital data centers and is believed to be using Relativity to launch a space telescope, Lazuili, funded by his family philanthropy, Schmidt Sciences.
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The former tech executive's decision to take over a space company puzzled observers because rocketry is crowded and capital-intensive. But pent-up demand for new rockets, fueled by delays at Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, could still lead to a payoff for Schmidt if Terran R actually makes it to space. And the new contract might give Schmidt a chance to one-up Elon Musk, his regular sparring partner on AI safety. While Musk has long talked of his Martian ambitions, SpaceX has never actually sent its own mission to Mars (the Tesla launched into space in 2018 missed). If Relativity's Aeolus launches on schedule, it could be the first private mission to reach the Red Planet.
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To understand the significance of this public-private model, consider other tech initiatives like Pramaana Labs' $27 million funding for formal verification in artificial intelligence, a field that, like space, requires innovation and strategic partnerships. For more on Mars exploration, Wikipedia provides a comprehensive overview of past and future missions.
