Mars Telecommunications Orbiter

What is the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter?

A spacecraft whose main job will be passing data between Mars and Earth. NASA calls the project the Mars Telecommunications Network: a high-performance telecommunications spacecraft orbiting Mars that carries science data, images, navigation information and critical communications for missions on and around the planet. NASA’s Space Communications and Navigation program manages it.[1] Despite the word “network,” it is a single spacecraft, Space.com notes.[11] NASA also asked bidders to carry a science payload, which NASA’s Science Mission Directorate will choose.[5]

Today, every orbiter in NASA’s Mars Relay Network relays data alongside its own science.[6] NASA has tried before to build a dedicated relay. In 2005 it was developing a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, planned to launch in September 2009, that would have been the first spacecraft whose main job was relaying communications from orbit around another planet.[8] SpaceNews reported in July 2005 that NASA had scrapped it.[9]

Why does Mars need a dedicated relay?

Because the orbiters that relay rover data today are aging science missions. Curiosity and Perseverance send most of their data up to orbitersOrbiterAn orbiter circles Mars without landing, studying the planet from above — and many also relay rover data back to Earth.More in the glossary passing overhead, at up to 2 megabits per second, and the orbiters pass it on to Earth. Every image seen from the surface of Mars since 2004 has come home this way, NASA says.[6]

Four orbiters do this work, and each does it on top of its main science mission. A fifth, NASA’s MAVEN, fell silent on Dec 6, 2025; NASA ended its mission on Jun 3, 2026, and the others took on its share.[6]

Average data each orbiter sent, in megabits (Mb), from NASA’s Mars Relay Network page. Age in 2030 is years since launch, the year NASA expects the new relay to be working.[6][10][15]

NASA has worried about this for a decade. “Currently, we depend on our orbiting science missions to perform dual service in making measurements and acting as communication relays, but we can’t depend on them to last forever,” NASA’s science chief John Grunsfeld said in 2016, when NASA asked industry for ideas for a new Mars orbiter.[7] Not all are near the end: ESA said in early 2024 that the Trace Gas Orbiter had fuel for three more decades of operations.[15] Our Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter page covers that orbiter’s relay work and the parts that are wearing out.

What did NASA order from Blue Origin?

A Mars relay orbiter, delivered no later than Dec 31, 2028, under a firm-fixed-price contract with a maximum value of about $700 million.[1] NASA announced the award on Sep 1, 2026. Blue Origin is to design, develop, integrate, launch and operate the network, and NASA expects it to be working at Mars by 2030.[1]

NASA released a draft request for proposals on Apr 2, 2026, held an industry day at its Goddard Space Flight Center, and issued the final request on May 14, giving companies 30 days to respond.[5] NASA says the network will support both current and future missions, as the agency prepares for robotic and, later, human missions to Mars.[1]

What is Blue Origin building for Mars?

A relay orbiter based on its Blue Ring spacecraft, Space.com reported. Blue Origin describes Blue Ring as “an all-in-one, high-powered hybrid solar electric and chemical propelled spacecraft.” As of September 2026, Blue Ring had not flown a mission; a prototype went to space on the first launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket in January 2025.[10]

When Blue Origin announced its orbiter design in August 2025, it described “steerable high-rate links supported by a broad beam that offers wide-area coverage,” plus UHF relay satellites it would release into low Mars orbit, and said it could launch by 2028.[12] The contract covers the launch, but NASA’s announcement did not name a rocket; Space.com said it will presumably fly on New Glenn.[1][10]

Blue Origin already has one Mars job behind it: New Glenn launched NASA’s Mars-bound ESCAPADE twin orbiters, built by Rocket Lab, on Nov 13, 2025.[14]

What did Congress require?

Congress paid for the orbiter and limited who could build it. The budget reconciliation law signed on Jul 4, 2025 gave NASA $700 million, to be committed by fiscal 2026, for a competitively bid, firm-fixed-price contract with a US commercial company.[4] The orbiter must be able to provide “robust, continuous communications” for a Mars sample return mission and for future surface, orbital and human missions, and must be delivered by Dec 31, 2028.[4]

The law also says the winner must come from commercial proposals that had NASA funding in fiscal 2024 or 2025 for Mars Sample Return design studies, and that proposed a separate, independently launched relay orbiter.[4] NASA paid companies for Mars Sample Return design studies in 2024: Blue Origin was on the list announced in June, and Rocket Lab was added in October, for eight in all.[13] Our Mars Sample Return page explains where that mission stands.

Why did Rocket Lab protest the award?

Rocket Lab says NASA’s decision “appears to be inconsistent with the eligibility criteria mandated by Congress.” It also calls NASA’s review of its technical proposal “punitive” and “inconsistent, making incorrect assertions and conclusions,” Space.com reported.[11] Rocket Lab filed the protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) on Sep 11, 2026.[2]

As of Oct 6, 2026, GAO lists the case as open, with a decision due by Dec 21, 2026.[2] Work has stopped while it waits. Federal law bars an agency from letting a contract go ahead while a protest filed within 10 days of the award is pending, unless the agency formally overrides that rule.[17] “As required by law, NASA has currently suspended performance of the Mars Telecommunications Network contract until the protest is resolved,” the agency told Aviation Week.[16] GAO must decide a protest within 100 days. It can deny the protest if it finds no merit, or sustain it if it agrees; a protest can also be withdrawn, or dismissed, for example if NASA takes corrective action. If GAO sustains a protest, it recommends a fix and the agency must say whether it will comply.[3]

What happens next?

GAO’s decision is due by Dec 21, 2026; if the award stands, the orbiter is due to NASA by the end of 2028.[2][1]

1. Apr 21, 2016NASA asks industry for ideas for a new Mars orbiter for communications and imaging.[7]
2. Jun 7, 2024NASA picks companies, Blue Origin among them, for Mars Sample Return design studies; Rocket Lab is added in October.[13]
3. Jul 4, 2025Congress gives NASA $700 million for a Mars relay orbiter.[4]
4. May 14, 2026NASA asks companies for proposals.[5]
5. Sep 1, 2026NASA picks Blue Origin.[1]
6. Sep 11, 2026Rocket Lab protests the award to GAO.[2]
7. Dec 21, 2026GAO’s decision is due.[2]
8. Dec 31, 2028Deadline to deliver the orbiter to NASA.[1]
9. By 2030NASA expects the network to be working at Mars.[1]

Radio signals take between about 3 and 22 minutes to cross between Mars and Earth, depending on where the planets are.[6] Our distance page shows the delay right now, and our news story covers the award and the protest as they happened.

Sources

1. NASA — NASA Selects Blue Origin as Mars Telecommunications Network ProviderPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
2. U.S. Government Accountability Office — Bid protest docket B-424825.1: Rocket Lab USA, Inc.Primary · checked Oct 6, 2026
3. U.S. Government Accountability Office — Bid protests: FAQsPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
4. U.S. Government Publishing Office — Public Law 119-21, section 40005: Mars missions, Artemis missions, and Moon to Mars programPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
5. NASA — NASA Draws on Industry for Mars Telecommunications NetworkPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
6. NASA Science — Mars Relay NetworkPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
7. NASA — NASA Seeks Industry Ideas for an Advanced Mars SatellitePrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
8. NASA Photojournal — Mars Telecommunications Orbiter, Artist’s Concept (PIA07500)Primary · checked Oct 6, 2026
9. SpaceNews — NASA Mars Telecom Orbiter Axed As Space Agency Priorities ShiftSecondary · checked Oct 6, 2026
10. Space.com — Blue Origin wins $700 million contract to build NASA’s next Mars orbiterSecondary · checked Oct 6, 2026
11. Space.com — Rocket Lab protests NASA’s decision to award Blue Origin $700 million Mars orbiter contractSecondary · checked Oct 6, 2026
12. Space.com — Blue Origin pitches new ‘Mars Telecommunications Orbiter’ for Red Planet missions (video)Secondary · checked Oct 6, 2026
13. NASA — NASA Exploring Alternative Mars Sample Return MethodsPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
14. NASA — NASA, Blue Origin Launch Two Spacecraft to Study Mars, Solar WindPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
15. ESA — FAQ: The ‘rebirth’ of ESA’s ExoMars Rosalind Franklin missionPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026
16. Aviation Week — NASA Stops Work On Mars Orbiter After Contract ProtestSecondary · checked Oct 6, 2026
17. U.S. Government Publishing Office (GovInfo) — 31 U.S. Code § 3553: Review of protests; effect on contracts pending decisionPrimary · checked Oct 6, 2026