Mars 2022 – Spaceflight Now

June 20, 2026

Breaking News

[ June 18, 2026 ] SpaceX launches intelligence-gathering satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office Falcon 9
[ June 17, 2026 ] Arianespace launches its heaviest payload to date with Amazon Leo flight Ariane 6
[ June 16, 2026 ] SpaceX launches 3 Block 2 BlueBird satellites for AST SpaceMobile Falcon 9
[ June 16, 2026 ] Astrobotic showcases Griffin-1 lander ahead of environmental testing in California Mission Reports
[ June 14, 2026 ] SpaceX launches its first Falcon 9 rocket since Nasdaq debut 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.