NASA tapped Eric Schmidt's Relativity Space for a 2028 Mars orbiter. The catch: it has never reached orbit, and the mission carries a data centre for Mars orbit.

Relativity Space plans to launch a Mars orbiter in 2028 as part of a new initiative to privately develop planetary missions.

Relativity Space—a rocket maker acquired by former Google executive chair Eric Schmidt last year after stumbling on the path to orbit—might just beat SpaceX to Mars.