Mars Orbiter

WASHINGTON — In a pivot toward deep-space exploration, Relativity Space announced on June 17 the launch of its new Interplanetary Sciences Program. The private initiative aims to lower the cost barrier of deep-space exploration, beginning with an ambitious Mars science and telecommunications orbiter slated to launch in late 2028.

The program represents a new public-private-philanthropic blueprint for planetary science. Driven by a desire to get “radically more science per dollar,” Relativity will partner with NASA, academic institutions, and an undisclosed philanthropic organization to build, launch, and operate the spacecraft.

“Relativity’s vision is to make access to space more open, reliable and routine, advancing science and innovation beyond Earth…The Interplanetary Sciences Program is a natural step towards that, built on the foundation of Terran R, our reusable rocket designed for scale and speed to orbit.”

– Eric Schmidt, Executive Chairman and Chief Executive of Relativity Space

The 2028 Mars Orbiter: Science Meets High-Performance Compute

While technical specifications like size, mass, and power draw remain under wraps, the orbiter’s highly sophisticated payload suggests a large, power-heavy spacecraft design.

The mission will fly two core scientific instruments:

• NASA’s Aeolus Suite: Contributed by NASA’s Ames Research Center, this atmospheric profiling payload includes a Doppler wind and temperature sensor, a thermal limb sounder, surface radiometric sensors, and a wide-field camera. NASA will handle instrument operations for one Martian year and process the raw data for global researchers.
• Shallow Radar Sounder: A specialized instrument designed to map subsurface geology and shallow ice reserves, identifying high-value landing sites for future human explorers.

Beyond raw data collection, the spacecraft is being engineered as an orbital Relay Data Center.

It will host high-bandwidth optical (laser) and radio-frequency (RF) communication links to beam massive volumes of data back to Earth, while serving as a surface relay node for Martian rovers. Crucially, the orbiter will pack “server-class compute” and massive data storage to execute complex algorithms, autonomous science profiling, and advanced AI models directly in Martian orbit.

“By pairing NASA’s world‑class instruments with commercial innovation and investment, we can deliver more science, more often”

– NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman.

The Eric Schmidt Influence and the Terran R Roadmap

The mission serves as a critical test of the strategic direction established by Eric Schmidt. The former Google CEO took the helm of Relativity Space in March 2025 following a massive personal investment. Under Schmidt’s leadership, the company has entirely consolidated its focus on Terran R, its medium-to-heavy lift launch vehicle featuring a reusable first stage.

The 2028 Mars orbiter is tightly bound to Schmidt’s expanding web of space-science philanthropic ventures.

Through Schmidt Sciences, Eric and Wendy Schmidt previously announced the creation of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Observatory System. This includes Lazuli, a massive space telescope larger than Hubble that is also scheduled to launch on a Terran R rocket as early as 2028.

While Relativity previously stated a goal to launch Terran R from Cape Canaveral in late 2026, industry sources widely expect the maiden flight to slip into 2027. Despite potential launch schedule adjustments, hardware development is moving forward actively; the company recently shipped a Terran R second stage from its Long Beach, California factory to NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for structural and environmental testing.

The 2028 orbiter effectively supersedes a previous, highly publicized 2022 agreement between Relativity and Impulse Space to launch a private Mars lander. With the lander initiative quietly shelved, Relativity’s Interplanetary Sciences Program marks a permanent, structural shift toward establishing a repeatable, data-driven framework across the Solar System.