Blue Origin is proposing a version of its Blue Ring spacecraft to serve as a Mars communications satellite. Credit: Blue Origin
WASHINGTON — NASA has released the final request for proposals for a Mars telecommunications system, confirming requirements that limit the companies that can bid on it.
NASA issued the final RFP for the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN) on May 14, seeking proposals by June 15. NASA said it intends to have the selected company under contract by Oct. 1.
MTN is designed to provide communications capabilities for other missions at Mars as existing orbiters, which serve as data relays in addition to their primary science missions, age. MTN was funded by last year’s budget reconciliation act, which provided NASA with $700 million for a Mars telecommunications orbiter that would be ready by the end of 2028.
The bill also directed NASA to limit eligibility for the contract to companies that received funding in fiscal years 2024 or 2025 for Mars sample return commercial design studies and, as part of those studies, “proposed a separate, independently launched Mars telecommunication orbiter supporting an end-to-end Mars sample return mission.”
