Blue Origin secures $700M NASA deal to build Mars communications network by 2028
NASA awarded Blue Origin a contract worth up to about $700 million to design, build, and operate a high-performance Mars telecommunications network, delivering a DTN-enabled relay orbiter by end-2028 and achieving operational status around Mars by 2030 to relay science data, imagery, navigation, and mission communications for future missions. The award marks NASA’s shift toward commercially operated interplanetary communications infrastructure and aligns with the Artemis program’s Moon-to-Mars ambitions, even as Blue Origin continues lunar contracts and recovers from a recent launchpad setback.
Science · 6 sources · Sep 2, 2026Read it
The journal
Open the journal →The conversation starts in the journal — be the first to post.
About Blue Origin
Blue Origin Enterprises, L.P. is a private American space technology company headquartered in Kent, Washington. The company operates the suborbital New Shepard rocket and the heavy-lift New Glenn rocket. In addition to producing engines for its own rockets, Blue Origin supplies engines for other vehicles, including United Launch Alliance's Vulcan Centaur. It is also working on the Blue Moon human lunar lander for NASA's Artemis program, the Blue Ring spacecraft platform, and the Orbital Reef space station in partnership with other organizations.
Everything about Blue Origin →- Country
- United States
- Headquarters
- Kent, Washington
- Inception
- September 2000
- Website
- https://www.blueorigin.com/