--- title: "NASA picks Eric Schmidt’s rocket company for Mars mission, setting up a race with SpaceX" url: https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-picks-eric-schmidt-s-rocket-company-for-mars-mission-setting-up-a-race-with-spacex-c5qskxiv1 source_url: https://techcrunch.com/2026/06/17/nasa-picks-eric-schmidts-rocket-company-for-mars-mission-setting-up-a-race-with-spacex type: article source: "TechCrunch" published: 2026-06-18T06:28:59.310Z updated: 2026-06-18T06:29:27.705Z tags: ["nasa", "spacex"] reading_time: 4 upvotes: 0 comments: 0 language: 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. # NASA picks Eric Schmidt’s rocket company for Mars mission, setting up a race with SpaceX **[TechCrunch](https://daily.dev/sources/tc)** · 4 min read · 0 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary NASA has selected Relativity Space, the rocket company acquired by former Google executive chair Eric Schmidt, to build and launch a spacecraft for the Aeolus Mars mission. The spacecraft will carry four scientific instruments to measure Mars' atmosphere from orbit, providing the first daily global view of dust, winds, and temperature. The mission is set to launch in 2028 under a public-private partnership model where Relativity shares development costs. This sets up a potential race with SpaceX, which has never sent its own science mission to Mars despite Elon Musk's long-stated ambitions. Relativity, founded in 2015 using 3D printing technology, has yet to successfully reach orbit with its Terran R rocket. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [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 Download: making drugs in orbit and NASA’s nuclear-powered spacecraft](https://daily.dev/posts/the-download-making-drugs-in-orbit-and-nasa-s-nuclear-powered-spacecraft-egsoqgnih) · MIT Technology Review · 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), [#spacex](https://daily.dev/tags/spacex) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/nasa-picks-eric-schmidt-s-rocket-company-for-mars-mission-setting-up-a-race-with-spacex-c5qskxiv1)