NASA announced on September 1, 2026 that it has awarded Blue Origin a contract to develop its future Mars Telecommunications Network. The goal is to provide high-speed communications and navigation services to current and future missions around Mars and its surface. The contract is fixed-price and its maximum potential value is around $700 million. Blue Origin is to design, develop, integrate, launch and then operate the network. The delivery of the orbiter to NASA is expected no later than December 31, 2028. The announced architecture is based on a spacecraft in Mars orbit. Blue Origin will have to relay scientific data, images, navigation information and critical communications between missions. NASA plans to put the orbiter into service around Mars in 2030. This date remains an objective of the program: the announced Mars exploration contract and a long schedule of mission preparation, a system
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BRIEF — NASA entrusts Blue Origin with developing a Martian telecommunications network
The contract, capped at about 700 million dollars, calls for delivery of a telecommunications orbiter before the end of 2028. The network is announced to be operational around Mars in 2030.
