NASA Selects Eric Schmidt-Backed Relativity for Mars Mission, Racing Against SpaceX
nashnova research
NASA has selected Relativity Space to fly the Aeolus Mars orbiter mission, targeting a 2028 launch; if it succeeds, a company that has never reached orbit will beat SpaceX to Mars.
What will Aeolus actually do at Mars?
The mission will place four science instruments in Mars orbit to measure and image dust, wind patterns, and temperature in the Martian atmosphere.
NASA says this will produce humanity's first daily-updated global view of Mars weather.
This means → future landing-site selection and crewed Mars missions will, for the first time, have something close to a weather-forecast-grade safety dataset.
Why pick a company that has never reached orbit?
The contract follows NASA's recent playbook: the agency supplies science requirements and funding, while private companies build the spacecraft and handle the launch at lower cost.
The same model already has precedents — SpaceX's ISS cargo runs and Firefly Aerospace's lunar lander program both work this way.
In plain terms = NASA no longer builds its own rockets for these missions. It acts as the client issuing a contract, and Relativity just won one.
Who is Relativity Space?
Founded in 2015 by two former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineers, the company's early pitch was cutting rocket manufacturing costs with 3D printing.
Its first rocket, Terran 1, failed on its maiden flight in March 2023. The company then pivoted entirely to the larger Terran R.
During that transition it hit a funding crunch. Former Google CEO Eric Schmidt acquired a majority stake last year and took over as CEO.
This reflects a company that reached this point not on a track record of proven launches, but on Schmidt's capital bet and a management reset.
What is the biggest risk here?
Relativity must do two things before the 2028 launch window: build a purpose-built Aeolus spacecraft and finish developing and first-fly the Terran R rocket.
NASA's partnerships with startups have stumbled before — past cases include a partner going bankrupt and a lunar lander suffering attitude-control anomalies.
NASA has not disclosed the contract value. This means → outsiders cannot yet gauge how much financial exposure NASA carries on this deal.
What does this have to do with Musk's Mars plans?
Musk has talked up Mars ambitions for years, yet SpaceX has never flown an independent Mars mission.
If Aeolus launches on schedule in 2028, Relativity Space would become the first private company to deliver a spacecraft to Mars — ahead of SpaceX.
In plain terms = a small company that has yet to reach orbit could leapfrog the industry giant in the Mars race — and that is the single most dramatic element of this story.
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