Nasa has awarded Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin with a $700m contract to develop the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN).
The mission is intended to provide better communication for Mars landers, rovers and other spacecraft on the surface of the planet.
The firm’s Mars Telecommunications Orbiter (MTO) will be designed to function essentially as an “Interplanetary Internet” router, relaying data between Mars rovers and Earth at much higher data rates than currently possible. Built on high-performance Software-Defined Radios (SDRs) and advanced RF technology, the system will manage continuous, high-speed transmissions back to Earth while utilising deployable UHF relay satellites to communicate with surface rovers.
MTO is built upon Blue Ring, Blue Origin’s spacecraft which is designed to tow and place payloads like satellites in orbit. It is currently in production at a facility in Huntsville, Alabama. With hybrid solar electric and chemical (SEP-Chem) propulsion, MTO can deploy multiple payloads...