Relativity Space to Build NASA’s 2028 Mars Orbiter in Private-Public Pact

NASA has announced a public-private partnership with Relativity Space to design, build, and launch the Aeolus Mars orbiter in 2028. The mission will carry four instruments to measure Mars’ winds, temperatures, dust and clouds, providing daily global atmospheric data to improve models and reduce risks for future robotic and crewed missions. The spacecraft will be designed and built at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California and integrated with Relativity’s Terran spacecraft, despite Relativity’s Terran 1 previously failing to reach orbit; the venture aims to operate for at least one Martian year (~687 Earth days).