NASA awards Blue Origin $700 million contract to build Mars communications orbiter
NASA yesterday awarded Blue Origin a fixed-priced $700 million contract to build one or more communications orbiters for relaying data and communications between Earth and the current rovers and the planned coming missions to Mars.
Blue Origin will design, develop, integrate, launch, and operate the network as a part of the agency’s broader space communications and navigation infrastructure. The architecture will consist of a high-performance telecommunications spacecraft orbiting Mars, transmitting science data, imagery, navigation information, and critical mission communications for spacecraft operating on and around the planet.
The Blue Origin satellite will be based on the company’s Blue Ring orbital tug.
Right now NASA uses Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Europe’s Mars Express for such data relaying, but this work must be coordinated so as to not interfere with their science observations, especially with the latter two. The focus of the Blue Origin satellites will be communications, though I am sure some science instruments will be included so research could go on when no data communications is necessary.
Rocket Lab had also bid on this contract, and it is actually surprising it lost to Blue Origin, which has not yet built or launched any interplanetary missions. And except for one demo mission of an engineering version of its Blue Ring orbital tug, Blue Origin has not yet even flown any operational orbiting satellites. Rocket Lab meanwhile built major components for the lunar orbiter Capstone, as well as service modules for a number of other satellites.
This contract thus puts added pressure on Blue Origin’s CEO, David Limp, to get the company out of the doldrums and actually start producing.
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Tory Bruno today posted photos from the BO factory floor of the next Blue Ring vehicles in the production line – BR-2, BR-3, BR-4.
https://x.com/torybruno/status/2095164740389498978
BR-4 is the Blue Ring which will become the MTO. So I guess they’ve already started work on it, at any rate.
From ULA to Blue Origin
Not really much of a move after all….
How do you justify this claim?
I wonder if there will be a non completion penalty? This seems to have been a perfect fit for SpaceX , just repurpose some Starlinks. They could launch it on a Falcon 9 and even make this year’s Mars’ window. If SpaceX hopes to make the 2028 Mars’ window, will SpaceX have to develop their own Mars’ comm system anyway to be certain of availability?
Space X will get to Mars first.
Why would there be a penalty for an order that just got placed?
@Nate P, I apologize for not being clear, a non completion penalty clause in the contract. If Blue Origin misses the delivery date / next Mars’ window, by even a month, we have to wait for the next window two years later. If Nasa and industry launch in the next window and Blue Origin does not, then the utility of the other launches is significantly diminished.
It’s possible there is one, but at the same time, we don’t have to wait every couple of years, if we don’t mind a higher-energy burn transfer windows can get much wider. So it’s premature to worry about it.
Even a Starlink V3 doesn’t have the power to broadcast a deep space signal. While I don’t doubt that SpaceX could build such satellite, it would like a whole lot of reworking from Starlink baselines.
I think Blue Origin bid on this, and got the contract, because Blue Ring is a great platform for such a satellite, and it basically exists already, which will help the timeline. Indeed, the Blue Ring for the MTO is already well into fabrication, as I noted up above via Tory Buno’s photo set. It’s a lot bigger than Rocket Lab’s proposal, and that leaves ample room for a science suite if NASA can find a way to fill it.
Jeff d asked: “If SpaceX hopes to make the 2028 Mars’ window, will SpaceX have to develop their own Mars’ comm system anyway to be certain of availability?”
Good question. For the first (unmanned) mission(s), they may choose to have a transmitter on the surface at the landing site(s) rather than depend upon orbital relays. They don’t get constant communication (i.e. during Martian nights, when the landing site faces away from Earth), but they may not need that much communication for the early unmanned mission(s). They may want to set up or rent time on three or so private ground stations on Earth, though, otherwise they could be stuck using the already-impacted Deep Space Network.
SpaceX seems to wait until they need a technology before they develop it, saving them engineering costs before they need to be spent. It isn’t only the cost that they save, it is also the distraction from the current objectives.
Even a Starlink V3 doesn’t have the power to broadcast a deep space signal. While I don’t doubt that SpaceX could build such satellite, it would like a whole lot of reworking from Starlink baselines.
I think Blue Origin bid on this, and got the contract, because Blue Ring is a great platform for such a satellite, and it basically exists already, which will help the timeline. Indeed, the Blue Ring for the MTO is already well into fabrication, as I noted up above via Tory Buno’s photo set. It’s a lot bigger than Rocket Lab’s proposal, and that leaves ample room for a science suite if NASA can find a way to fill it.