World : NASA Awards Blue Origin Contract For Mars Telecoms Network
LOS ANGELES, Sept 2 (Bernama-Xinhua) -- American private aerospace company Blue Origin was awarded a contract by NASA on Tuesday to develop the agency’s Mars Telecommunications Network, reported Xinhua.
Blue Origin has secured a $700 million contract from NASA to develop the next Mars orbiter, the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN). The contract, announced on September 1, 2025, is part of NASA's strategy to expand communications and navigation services beyond Earth and the moon. This will help establish a foundation for sustained exploration of Mars in the coming decades.
The MTN, previously known as the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, will primarily aid NASA science missions with reliable, high-bandwidth communications and navigation services. As of now, only two NASA orbiters - Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter - relay data and commands between the agency's Mars rovers and handlers on Earth.
The European Space Agency's Mars Express and Trace Gas Orbiter also contribute to this effort. Blue Origin's MTN will be a dedicated communications craft, capable of delivering multiple payloads to Mars' surface and orbits, driving discovery. Built on Blue Origin's Blue Ring spacecraft platform, the MTN will launch on a New Glenn rocket, with the spacecraft expected to reach NASA by December 31, 2028.
Written by urgent.news from Space.com's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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