NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman announced the partnership June 17 during an event at Relativity Space. Under the model, NASA contributes its Aeolus atmospheric-science instrument suite while Relativity Space manages spacecraft development and mission operations. Relativity Space separately said it plans to privately develop and launch the Mars orbiter in 2028, funded by a philanthropic backer that has not been named. The mission also doubles as a Mars communications relay.
Relativity Space has never successfully reached orbit with any rocket. Eric Schmidt, the former Google executive chair, acquired the company in 2025 after it stumbled. The company’s Terran R second stage shipped to Stennis Space Center this week as the vehicle advances toward a 2026 debut.
Aeolus, scheduled to launch in 2028, is a NASA-developed suite of four complementary instruments designed to provide the first integrated, daily, global view of Martian winds, temperatures, dust, and clouds. The payload includes the Doppler Wind and Temperature Sounder, which measures wind and temperature profiles from the surface to roughly 37 miles in collaboration with GATS; the Thermal Limb Sounder, which provides vertical temperature profiles and observations of dust and water-ice clouds in collaboration with Xiomas Technologies; the Surface Radiometric Sensor Package, which measures surface energy balance, dust, and cloud properties; and the Wide-Field Context Camera, which captures daily global images of atmospheric activity.
Researchers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California will design, build, and integrate the payload. NASA will support operations of the science instruments for at least one Martian year, while Relativity Space maintains the spacecraft. NASA will also develop the data-processing pipeline to transform raw measurements into ready-to-use data products. The effort is supported under NASA’s first six-year reimbursable Space Act Agreement.
“Public-private partnerships like this are a force multiplier for science,” Isaacman said. “By pairing NASA’s world-class instruments with commercial innovation and investment, we can deliver more science, more often, and reduce the time it takes to get essential data into the hands of researchers preparing for future human missions to Mars.” Dr. Eugene Tu, director of NASA Ames, said Aeolus “reflects how innovative collaboration accelerates science and strengthens the foundation needed for one day landing humans on Mars.”
NASA says Aeolus will improve models for dust, winds, temperature, and seasonal atmospheric behavior, generating environmental knowledge required to reduce risk for future crewed and uncrewed landings. The agency says these measurements will directly inform entry, descent, and landing systems and support safer mission planning for astronauts. Aeolus builds on more than two decades of NASA atmospheric missions, including the MAVEN orbiter, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Mars Odyssey.
Watch whether Terran R reaches orbit ahead of the 2028 launch target. The vehicle is moving toward a 2026 debut, with its second stage now at Stennis Space Center for testing. If the rocket does not reach orbit, NASA’s Aeolus instruments have no path to Mars.
