Mars 2022 – Spaceflight Now

September 28, 2023

Breaking News

[ September 27, 2023 ] Soyuz lands safely in Kazakhstan to end record-breaking mission; Rubio: “It’s good to be home” News
[ September 27, 2023 ] Live coverage: Space station crew return to Earth after 371-day mission News
[ September 27, 2023 ] Rapid response Victus Nox launch success open new possibilities for Space Force, commercial space industry News
[ September 26, 2023 ] Two cosmonauts, NASA astronaut head for Wednesday landing after yearlong mission News
[ September 25, 2023 ] SpaceX Falcon 9 launches Starlink satellites from California 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.