NASA weighs Mars telecom orbiter plan as 2026 deadline looms

NASA faces a funding-driven fork: choose and award a Mars Telecommunications Orbiter by Sept. 30, 2026, to restore deep-space comms after MAVEN’s loss, with a possible 2028 launch window. Options range from a pure communications relay to a bus that includes scientific instruments, and a competitive procurement is complicated by a Cruz-led bill and potential JOFOC constraints. Bidders include Blue Origin, SpaceX, Rocket Lab, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and others, with administrator Jared Isaacman weighing whether to add science payloads or keep the mission strictly telecom.