NASA selects Eric Schmidt’s rocket company for Mars mission, sets up race with SpaceX

Relativity Space — the rocket maker that was acquired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt last year after stumbling on the way to orbit — may overtake SpaceX in getting to Mars.

NASA said Tuesday it has hired the company to build a spacecraft to house a suite of scientific instruments, launch them into space and fly them to Mars.

The contract structure is similar to deals NASA has with SpaceX to transport cargo to the International Space Station, or Firefly Aerospace to put a lander on the moon. The government agency handles the science, while the private company provides the low-cost infrastructure.

The mission, Aeolus, as it is called, will have four instruments to measure and image Mars from orbit, providing what NASA expects to be the first daily global view of dust, wind and temperature in its atmosphere. The agency said the data will make visiting the surface of the Red Planet safer for landers and astronauts one day.

“By connecting NASA’s world-class tools 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,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said in a statement.

The mission is scheduled to launch in 2028, a fast pace that will require Relativity to design and build the spacecraft to carry the Aeolus instruments, and to finish building the rocket that will carry them into space, all within a tight timeline. NASA did not disclose how much it is paying Relativity for the mission, and Relativity did not respond to TechCrunch’s questions.

Isaacman, who has flown into space twice on private missions for SpaceX, has championed such public-private partnerships. Under this model, the company working with NASA bears some of the costs of developing the project, in exchange for allowing NASA to expand its budget further — a structure that has become a model for how the agency can fund ambitious missions without taking on all of the same financial risks.

But NASA is also taking risks: Relativity is unproven, and there is no guarantee the mission will get off the ground. Previous partners at NASA have either gone bankrupt or seen lunar landers go awry. The potential reward for the company presumably extends beyond the NASA contract itself, including commercial applications, such as launching satellites or delivering cargo to the moon. However, the further these partnerships reach the space, the murkier the commercial services market becomes.

Relativity was founded in 2015 by former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineers, with the goal of using 3D printing to its full potential as a path to building a cheaper rocket. The company’s first design, Terran-1, was launched in March 2023 and failed mid-flight. Relativity was doubled down by the move to a larger design, dubbed the Terran R.

Before Relativity could reach the launch pad, the company faced fundraising challenges, and Schmidt took a majority stake in the company last year and installed himself as CEO. He has remained tight-lipped about the investment but has expressed interest in orbiting data centres, and is thought to be using relativity to launch a space telescope, Lazuili, funded by his family’s charitable foundation, Schmidt Sciences.

The former technology executive’s decision to acquire an aerospace company last year puzzled some observers, because the rocket industry is a crowded and capital-intensive field. But pent-up demand for new rockets — fueled by delays in Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin project — could lead to a reward for Schmidt if the Terran R actually makes it to space.

The new contract may give Schmidt a chance to replace Elon Musk, his regular sparring partner on the issue of AI safety. While Musk has long talked about his Mars ambitions, SpaceX has never sent its own mission to Mars (no, it missed the Tesla vehicle it launched into space in 2018).

If the relativity rover Aeolus launches on schedule, it could be the first private mission to reach the Red Planet.