NASA chooses 9 companies for Mars Exploration Program concept studies - UPI.com

NASA selected nine companies to develop four systems that will enable multiple missions to Mars over the next two decades and provide a continual flow of samples for laboratory analysis on Earth. Photo by NASA/U.S. Geological Survey

May 1 (UPI) -- Officials with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration will pay nine companies between $200,000 and $300,000 each to conduct a dozen tests to support future missions to Mars.

"We're in an exciting new era of space exploration, with rapid growth of commercial interest and capabilities, Eric Ianson, NASA Mars Exploration Program director, said in an online announcement Wednesday.

"Now is the right time for NASA to begin looking a how public-private partnerships could support science at Mars in the coming decades," Ianson said.

The tests are part of NASA's Mars Exploration Commercial Services studies to support its Mars Exploration Program, which is slated to send missions to Mars over the next 20 years.

The studies are divided among four categories.

NASA chose Lockheed Martin to adapt a lunar-exploration spacecraft, Impulse Space to adapt an Earth-vicinity orbital transfer vehicle and Firefly Aerospace to adapt a lunar-exploration spacecraft.

Those three companies will help NASA develop small payload delivery and hosting services.

United Launch Services will modify an Earth-vicinity cryogenic upper stage, and Blue Origin will adapt an Earth- and lunar-vicinity spacecraft. Astrobotic Technology will modify a lunar-exploration spacecraft.

Those efforts are part of the Mars Exploration Program's large payload deliver and hosting services.

Albedo Space Corp. will adapt a low-Earth-orbit imaging satellite, and Redwire Space will modify a commercial imaging spacecraft. Astrobotic Technology will modify a lunar exploration spacecraft to enable imaging.

Those efforts will support Mars surface-imaging services.

SpaceX will adapt Earth-orbit communication satellites for Mars, and Lockheed Martin will modify a Mars orbiter to act as a communications relay service. Blue Origin will adapt an Earth- and lunar-vicinity spacecraft to provide the communication relay services.

Those technological developments will support NASA's next-generation relay services for the Mars Exploration Program.

The dozen studies will take about 12 weeks to complete and are slated to end in August. NASA will publish a summary of each study later this year.

NASA officials chose the companies conducting the studies after posting requests for proposals on Jan. 29.

NASA also is seeking industry proposals for its Mars Sample Return campaign to return samples collected by its Perseverance rover to Earth for laboratory analysis.

The Mars Exploration Program's goal is to provide a continual flow of scientific discovery and information using robotic orbiters, landers and mobile laboratories connected by a high-bandwidth Mars-Earth communications network.