--- title: After Decades, NASA May Finally Replace Mars Relays description: NASA has awarded Blue Origin a fixed-price contract to build the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN), a dedicated high-bandwidth communications relay meant... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/after-decades-nasa-may-finally-replace-mars-relays-ixq2t1phe twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: After Decades, NASA May Finally Replace Mars Relays | daily.dev og:description: NASA has awarded Blue Origin a fixed-price contract to build the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN), a dedicated high-bandwidth communications relay meant... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/after-decades-nasa-may-finally-replace-mars-relays-ixq2t1phe og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/IXq2T1pHe.png og:image:alt: After Decades, NASA May Finally Replace Mars Relays og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # After Decades, NASA May Finally Replace Mars Relays **[Hackaday](https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday)** · 8 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary NASA has awarded Blue Origin a fixed-price contract to build the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN), a dedicated high-bandwidth communications relay meant to replace the aging Mars Relay Network, whose spacecraft (Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, ExoMars TGO) are 12 to 25 years old and were never designed primarily as relays. The revived program, funded with $700 million from a 2025 congressional budget reconciliation package after the collapse of the Mars Sample Return mission, requires the new orbiter to offer at least 1 terabyte of store-and-forward storage and a 150 Mbps Mars-to-Earth link, with launch targeted for 2028. However, Rocket Lab has filed a formal protest with the Government Accountability Office over the contract award, forcing NASA and Blue Origin to halt work for up to 100 days while the GAO reviews the decision, raising the risk that the delay could push the mission past the next Mars launch window. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### What company did NASA select to build the Mars Telecommunications Network relay? NASA awarded Blue Origin a fixed-price contract to develop, build, launch, and operate the Mars Telecommunications Network orbiter. The contract stems from a 2025 congressional budget reconciliation package that allocated $700 million to revive the long-stalled Mars Telecommunications Orbiter concept, with a requirement that it launch by 2028 and be built by a company that had previously contributed to the Mars Sample Return mission. _Engineers tracking major space infrastructure contracts can follow procurement news like this on daily.dev._ ### Why has work on NASA's Mars Telecommunications Network with Blue Origin stopped? Rocket Lab filed a formal protest with the Government Accountability Office after Blue Origin was selected for the contract, claiming Blue Origin's design is inconsistent with congressionally mandated eligibility criteria and that NASA misrepresented Rocket Lab's own proposal. Because of the protest, NASA and Blue Origin are legally required to halt all work on the project until the GAO completes its review, a process that can take up to 100 days. _Anyone following contested aerospace contracts can keep up with how disputes like this unfold on daily.dev._ ### What are the technical requirements for NASA's Mars Telecommunications Network relay orbiter? The relay must provide at least one terabyte of non-volatile store-and-forward storage capacity and achieve a data link of at least 150 Mbps from Mars to Earth. It must also support a minimum 20 kilogram science payload and include mounting ports for instruments, deployable sub-relays, or a lander, though optical laser communication is a bonus rather than a requirement. _Developers curious about deep-space bandwidth constraints can track updates on missions like this through daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Blue Origin’s satellite internet network TeraWave will move data at 6Tbps](https://daily.dev/posts/blue-origin-s-satellite-internet-network-terawave-will-move-data-at-6tbps-j9abi6ukv) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Here’s how orbital dynamics wizardry helped save NASA’s next Mars mission](https://daily.dev/posts/here-s-how-orbital-dynamics-wizardry-helped-save-nasa-s-next-mars-mission-caqiovfjk) · Ars Technica · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [NASA picks Eric Schmidt's Relativity Space for Mars](https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-picks-eric-schmidt-s-relativity-space-for-mars-agpkzd8pe) · The Next Web · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [The billionaire battle to put America back on the moon](https://daily.dev/posts/the-billionaire-battle-to-put-america-back-on-the-moon-l7vq8unp8) · TechCentral · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#nasa](https://daily.dev/tags/nasa) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/after-decades-nasa-may-finally-replace-mars-relays-ixq2t1phe) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"After Decades, NASA May Finally Replace Mars Relays","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/after-decades-nasa-may-finally-replace-mars-relays-ixq2t1phe","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/after-decades-nasa-may-finally-replace-mars-relays-ixq2t1phe"},"datePublished":"2026-09-24T14:08:46.289Z","dateModified":"2026-09-24T14:09:11.349Z","description":"NASA has awarded Blue Origin a fixed-price contract to build the Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN), a dedicated high-bandwidth communications relay meant...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/71a66f97fefaf979dc6ae9ac87b9e4f8?_a=AQAEuop","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/71a66f97fefaf979dc6ae9ac87b9e4f8?_a=AQAEuop","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Hackaday","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Hackaday","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--JhDfhy70--/f_auto,q_auto/v1767541814/logos/hackaday","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},"commentCount":0,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/after-decades-nasa-may-finally-replace-mars-relays-ixq2t1phe","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":0},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":0}],"keywords":"nasa","timeRequired":"PT8M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Hackaday","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/hackaday"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"After Decades, NASA May Finally Replace Mars Relays"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"FAQPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/after-decades-nasa-may-finally-replace-mars-relays-ixq2t1phe#faq","mainEntity":[{"@type":"Question","name":"What company did NASA select to build the Mars Telecommunications Network relay?","acceptedAnswer":{"@type":"Answer","text":"NASA awarded Blue Origin a fixed-price contract to develop, build, launch, and operate the Mars Telecommunications Network orbiter. 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