NASA has sparked a race to develop the data pipeline to Mars

For decades, NASA built and flew its own relay orbiters and spacecraft to ferry valuable data back to Earth. Now, the agency is shifting to buying connectivity as a service, much like it does for launch and astronaut transport.

That pivot has sparked a race, with major contenders pitching ways to keep Mars missions online. What’s at stake isn’t a single contract: it’s the data pipe to Mars.

This new approach, which will mix NASA assets and commercial infrastructure, would gradually replace the patchwork relay network the agency relies on today. Generally, that works by orbiters like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and MAVEN that pickup data from rovers and landers, and transmit it to the Deep Space Network’s (DSN) giant antennas on Earth.

NASA’s relay spacecraft are still healthy, but they