Relativity signs deal to launch Impulse Space’s missions to Mars
Capitalism in space: The commercial rocket startup Relativity has now signed a deal with the orbital tug startup Impulse Space to launch at least one mission to Mars, possibly as early as 2024.
Impulse Space has announced that the company will launch the first commercial payload to Mars on board Relativity Space’s Terran R rocket. Under the new partnership, Relativity will launch Impulse’s Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as part of an exclusive agreement until 2029.
The earliest anticipated launch window occurs between 2024 and 2025 and would make use of Relativity’s fully reusable Terran R rocket launching from Space Launch Complex 16 (SLC-16) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Terran R is planned to complete the trans-Mars injection burn to place the cruise vehicle, carrying the lander, on a trajectory toward Mars. The cruise vehicle will then separate from the lander that, protected by an aeroshell, will enter the Martian atmosphere and attempt to propulsively land on the surface of the red planet.
To say that this plan is tentative is to state the obvious. First, Relativity has not yet launched its first rocket. It hopes to do so before the end of this year, but that rocket is the Terran-1, much smaller than the proposed Terran-R. Second, Impulse itself has not yet launched any tugs, though its founder, Tom Mueller, was the head engine development at SpaceX when it developed the Merlin, Draco, Super Draco, and Raptor engines. After leaving SpaceX he created Impulse Space to provide orbital and interplanetary transportation for others. It appears he has decided that an early Mars mission will be the best way to put his company on the map.
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Capitalism in space: The commercial rocket startup Relativity has now signed a deal with the orbital tug startup Impulse Space to launch at least one mission to Mars, possibly as early as 2024.
Impulse Space has announced that the company will launch the first commercial payload to Mars on board Relativity Space’s Terran R rocket. Under the new partnership, Relativity will launch Impulse’s Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander from Cape Canaveral, Florida, as part of an exclusive agreement until 2029.
The earliest anticipated launch window occurs between 2024 and 2025 and would make use of Relativity’s fully reusable Terran R rocket launching from Space Launch Complex 16 (SLC-16) at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.
Terran R is planned to complete the trans-Mars injection burn to place the cruise vehicle, carrying the lander, on a trajectory toward Mars. The cruise vehicle will then separate from the lander that, protected by an aeroshell, will enter the Martian atmosphere and attempt to propulsively land on the surface of the red planet.
To say that this plan is tentative is to state the obvious. First, Relativity has not yet launched its first rocket. It hopes to do so before the end of this year, but that rocket is the Terran-1, much smaller than the proposed Terran-R. Second, Impulse itself has not yet launched any tugs, though its founder, Tom Mueller, was the head engine development at SpaceX when it developed the Merlin, Draco, Super Draco, and Raptor engines. After leaving SpaceX he created Impulse Space to provide orbital and interplanetary transportation for others. It appears he has decided that an early Mars mission will be the best way to put his company on the map.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
Successfully putting a lander on Mars will definitely put his company on the map. That is quite a goal for a new company. It’s amazing how much things have changed in the last few years, not long ago such a proposal would just get laughed at.
I read the New York Times piece on it, posted at Drudge. The NYT might not be laughing but I detected several suppressed giggles.
There is, in that piece, a timeline: “two and a half years”. Here are the T/M launch windows. There are no 2023 windows; the 2024 windows are mid-October through November. 2.5 years from now should be January 2024 nu?
I suppose that’s where the [specific] Impulse in the company’s name comes in – they are shaving time off transfer. Interesting if it works. Although, the cargo mass is small.
*Jan 2025, derp. Sorry M.Z.
David Eastman and his reference to laughter reminds me of the track record for successfully reaching Mars. About half the Mars missions have ended in failure (I think someone hypothesized about them being eaten by a space goat, or something). Mars is a challenging first mission for even a national space program, and here are commercial companies trying it for their maiden missions. This is the kind of boldness that we should expect from our commercial companies. Except that failure could be a bad black stain on their reputations. Success, on the other hand, would be impressive. Really, really impressive.
David Ross talking about traveling to Mars reminded me of a video. Last year, Scott Manley talked a bit about travel to Mars, pork chops, and timing of the departure.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XSEPwokZmRQ#t=243 (4 minutes)