NASA and Relativity Space Partner to Advance Mars Atmospheric Science

NASA announced a public-private partnership with commercial space company Relativity Space to advance Mars science by combining NASA's scientific instruments with commercial spacecraft capabilities. Under the collaboration, NASA will provide the Aeolus atmospheric-science instrument payload suite, while Relativity Space supplies the spacecraft, rocket, and cruise operations to deliver the instruments to Mars. The partnership is designed to accelerate scientific discovery and expand mission cadence while strengthening the foundation for future human exploration of Mars.

The Aeolus payload, scheduled to launch in 2028, consists of four complementary NASA-built instruments designed to provide the first integrated, daily global view of Martian winds, temperatures, dust, and clouds. The suite includes the Doppler Wind and Temperature Sounder (DWTS-Ozone), which measures wind and temperature profiles from the surface to approximately 60 kilometers altitude; the Thermal Limb Sounder (TLS), which provides vertical temperature profiles and observations of dust and water-ice clouds; the Surface Radiometric Sensor Package (SuRSeP), which measures surface energy balance and cloud properties; and the Wide-Field Context Camera (WFCC), which captures daily global images of atmospheric activity. These measurements will improve models for Martian atmospheric conditions essential for safe human exploration.

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman stated that such partnerships serve as a force multiplier for science, allowing NASA to pair world-class instruments with commercial innovation and investment to deliver more science more often and reduce the time required to deliver critical data to researchers. Researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California will design, build, and integrate the payload, while Relativity Space manages spacecraft development and mission operations. The effort is supported under NASA's first six-year reimbursable Space Act Agreement, providing a stable framework for sustained collaboration and mission continuity.

The Aeolus mission builds on more than two decades of NASA Mars atmospheric research conducted through orbiters such as MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution), the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and Mars Odyssey. NASA will support operations of the science instruments for at least one Martian year, while also developing the data-processing pipeline to transform raw measurements into high-quality, ready-to-use data products for broad scientific use. According to Dr. Eugene Tu, director of NASA Ames, the mission reflects how innovative collaboration accelerates science and strengthens the foundation needed for eventual human landing on Mars.