Mars 2022 – Spaceflight Now

September 30, 2026

Breaking News

[ September 29, 2026 ] NASA plans unpiloted Starliner test flight at end of year News
[ September 28, 2026 ] Starship returns to Earth; rocket splashes down north of Hawaii after three-hour flight Mission Reports
[ September 28, 2026 ] Launch preview: SpaceX to launch first Starlink V3 satellites to orbit on Starship Mission Reports
[ September 26, 2026 ] Next crew bound for the space station arrive in Florida Mission Reports
[ September 25, 2026 ] SpaceX Falcon 9 launches classified mission for U.S. Space Force from West Coast 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.