Mars 2022 – Spaceflight Now

October 15, 2025

Breaking News

[ October 15, 2025 ] Live coverage: Overnight launch planned for 28 more Starlink satellites Falcon 9
[ October 14, 2025 ] Live coverage: SpaceX to launch 2nd batch of satellites for Space Development Agency following weather scrub Falcon 9
[ October 14, 2025 ] Rocket Lab launches 7th StriX Earth observation satellites for Japan-based Synspective Electron
[ October 14, 2025 ] SpaceX launches final Version 2 Starship-Super Heavy rocket Mission Reports
[ October 13, 2025 ] SpaceX launches 24 Amazon Kuiper satellites following days of weather delays Falcon 9

NASA developing plans for commercially-built Mars orbiter

July 27, 2016 Stephen Clark

NASA is advancing a plan to send a robotic orbiter to Mars in the early 2020s, developing designs with five U.S. satellite makers for a mission to extend high-resolution mapping capabilities, telecommunications relay functions, and potentially act as a waypoint for Martian soil samples destined for return to Earth.

NASA eyes ion engines for Mars orbiter launching in 2022

March 3, 2015 Stephen Clark

NASA officials want the agency’s next Mars orbiter to pull double duty as a communications relay station for a fleet of surface landers and as a trailblazer for a future round-trip sample return mission and human expeditions to the red planet.