NASA hires – NASA has hired Relativity Space—backed by former Google executive chair Eric Schmidt—to build and fly the Aeolus spacecraft to Mars, launching in 2028 and aiming to deliver the first daily, global view of the Red Planet’s atmosphere. The move sets up a high-st
NASA’s timeline doesn’t leave much room for hesitation: Relativity Space is set to launch a Mars-bound mission in 2028, built around a spacecraft that will carry a suite of instruments to image and measure the planet’s atmosphere from orbit.
The mission is called Aeolus. NASA says it will hire the company to build the spacecraft to house four instruments. launch it into space. and fly it to Mars. The plan is to capture what NASA expects will be the first daily. global view of dust. winds. and temperature in Mars’ atmosphere—data NASA believes will make landing safer for future missions and. someday. for astronauts visiting the surface.
NASA has leaned on a similar contracting structure before. In these arrangements, the government handles the science, while private companies provide the “low-cost infrastructure” to get hardware in space. NASA compares it to deals it made with SpaceX to fly cargo to the International Space Station and with Firefly Aerospace to put a lander on the Moon.
Jared Isaacman, the NASA administrator, framed the arrangement as speed and scale. “By pairing NASA’s world‑class instruments with commercial innovation and investment. we can deliver more science. more often. and reduce the time it takes to get essential data into the hands of researchers preparing for future human missions to Mars. ” he said in a statement.
For Relativity, the schedule is the hardest part. NASA did not disclose how much it is paying Relativity for the mission. and Relativity did not respond to questions about the contract. Still. the deadline is unforgiving: the company must design and build the spacecraft carrying the Aeolus instruments and also finish building the rocket to launch it—on a tight timeline that assumes Relativity can move from design to flight quickly.
That’s where the gamble shows. Relativity is still unproven. There is no guarantee Aeolus makes it off the ground, and NASA has seen partnerships like this stumble in the past—startup partners have gone bankrupt, and even when missions did launch, Moon landers arrived askew.
The reward is meant to extend beyond NASA. If Relativity succeeds. the company stands to use the mission as momentum for commercial work. including launching satellites or delivering cargo to the Moon. But the further these partnerships reach into space. the murkier the commercial market can become for services—especially when the buyers and payment models are less predictable.
Relativity’s road to this point has been unusually compressed. The company was founded in 2015 by two former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineers. Its original approach leaned on 3D printing to help build rockets more cheaply. Relativity’s first design, Terran-1, launched in March 2023 and failed mid-flight. The company then moved on to a larger design dubbed the Terran R.
Before Terran R could get to the launch pad, Relativity ran into fundraising challenges. Last year, Eric Schmidt—described as the former Google executive chair—took a majority stake, installing himself as CEO. Schmidt has been tight-lipped about the investment, but he has expressed interest in orbital data centers. He is also thought to be using Relativity to launch a space telescope. Lazuili. financed by his family philanthropy. Schmidt Sciences.
Schmidt’s decision to step into a crowded, capital-intensive industry also confused some observers at the time. Still, pent-up demand for new rockets—sparked in part by delays at Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin—could create an opening for Terran R if it can reach orbit.
And now, the mission’s symbolism is hard to ignore: Aeolus doesn’t just test a rocket. It also puts a high-profile startup in a public timing pressure cooker alongside the broader push to commercialize Mars.
If Aeolus launches on schedule, it could be the first private mission to reach the Red Planet. That would be a major milestone in a field where. so far. SpaceX has talked about Mars more than it has flown there—SpaceX has never actually sent its own mission to Mars. and the Tesla it launched into space in 2018 missed.
Schmidt and Elon Musk have also clashed over issues around AI safety, and Aeolus gives Schmidt a chance to win more than technical credibility; it becomes another arena where public timelines and bold claims collide with engineering reality.
The mission may be science-heavy on paper, but the question sitting underneath NASA’s announcement is simple: can Relativity make its own leap—from an unproven rocket to Mars—fast enough for 2028?
NASA Relativity Space Eric Schmidt Aeolus mission Mars 3D printing rockets Terran-1 Terran R SpaceX Mars atmosphere instruments Lazuili
So 2028? seems like forever lol.
Eric Schmidt backing a rocket company for Mars… yeah that checks out. I read “daily global view” and I’m like wait does that mean they can watch dust storms every day or am I misunderstanding?
They hired Relativity Space, but didn’t they already send something similar to Mars? Also “reduce the time it takes to get data” sounds like it’s mostly marketing. If they’re not saying how much NASA pays, then maybe it’s too expensive??
I don’t get why NASA needs a private company to build it. Like, shouldn’t NASA just do it themselves? And Aeolus… sounds like the wind god thing, so are they literally naming it because Mars has a lot of wind and dust. I mean cool, but I swear I heard Schmidt was in like everything now, so is this gonna be another “first” that nobody follows through on.