NASA Awards Mars Research Tasks to 9 Private Companies, Signaling Shift Towards Commercial Support

NASA has awarded 12 research tasks to 9 private companies to explore potential commercial support for future Mars missions. This marks a significant shift towards more frequent, lower-cost exploration of the Red Planet, similar to the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program.

The selected companies, including Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and others, will conduct 12-week concept studies on various services like payload delivery, planetary imaging, and communications relays. Each company will receive between $200,000 and $300,000 to produce detailed reports on their proposed Mars-related services.

This initiative is an important first step for NASA to understand the feasibility and costs of commercial technologies for Mars exploration. The goal is to develop a new paradigm for Mars missions that involves partnerships between the government and private industry, delivering 'more frequent lower cost missions' compared to traditional approaches.

Why this matters: This move signals NASA's increasing comfort in working with smaller, earlier-stage startups on unproven technologies, as the agency seeks to develop a new paradigm for more frequent, lower-cost Mars missions through partnerships between government and industry. It represents a significant shift towards greater commercial involvement in future Red Planet missions.

The studies are divided into four categories: small payload delivery and hosting services, large payload delivery and hosting services, Mars surface-imaging services, and next-generation relay services. They are expected to conclude in August, and while there is no guarantee of future contracts, they could lead to requests for proposals and partnerships between NASA and private industry for more frequent, lower-cost Mars missions.

NASA officials say this is an exciting new era of space exploration with rapid growth of commercial interest and capabilities, and the right time to explore public-private partnerships for supporting science at Mars. "This is an exciting new era of space exploration with rapid growth of commercial interest and capabilities," said NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy.

Key Takeaways

• NASA awarded 12 research tasks to 9 private companies for Mars missions.
• Companies will conduct 12-week concept studies on services like payload delivery.
• This initiative aims to develop a new paradigm for more frequent, lower-cost Mars missions.
• Studies are divided into 4 categories: payload delivery, imaging, and relay services.
• This marks a shift towards greater commercial involvement in future Red Planet missions.