This mission is an orbital science mission studying Mars' atmosphere, not the same objective as SpaceX's long-term goal of sending large cargo and eventually humans to Mars. So I think the title might be taking the piss just a smidge.
I don't assume "Mars mission" to necessarily mean cargo for settlement or humans. In fact, that all seems quite distant at this point, so I ignore it entirely unless specific concrete actions occur.
So for many people like myself, the title is perfectly reasonable. The world does not revolve around SpaceX and its purported plans.
only if you squint at it while slightly tilting your head and really want it to be acrimonious.
"NASA picks Eric Schmidt's rocket company for Mars mission" comes no where close to implying it was a manned mission while absolutely being accurate in it's a rocket company being selected for a mission going to Mars. You're reading into it a manned mission.
For context, Relativity gained Eric Schmidt as CEO in March last year.
They built a 3D printed small sat launcher which failed it's first launch. They cancelled further work in favour of Terran R which has less 3D printing. First launch probably early next year. First successful launch, probably late next year.
A Mars mission 2028 is not crazy but it's ambitious.
The way these always work is they pick a low-stakes mission to give a new competitor a chance to build the market. If they're on track to miss the deadline badly they'll switch vendors to SpaceX who they know can pick up the slack on a short timeline. And if they do manage to deliver, great.
"Don't read to much into this. It's just a key talent, stable and productive, forming relationships with a key partner, gathering experience that you would think would be critical information to another companies valuation."
Since SpaceX now includes controlling the Twitter culture war narrative, yes... lots of other things to do for "SpaceX."
I say this as a huge fan of the OG SpaceX, and a space nerd in general.
I was thinking that I felt bad for the OG SpaceX folks working on rockets, and Starlink... with all the distractions. However, many of them just became millionaires. So, what do I know.
Elon is a heck of an economic engineer. I would probably want to be along for the ride.
The Saturn V[f] is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon.
NASA is not developing Relativity Space's rocket.
"On Tuesday, NASA said it hired the company to build a spacecraft to house a suite of scientific instruments, launch it into space, and fly it to Mars."
Plus, George Mueller, who managed the rocket team, worked for NASA, not some private company. So did all the engineers.
"The largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn V was designed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. The program was managed by American George Mueller; technical design was led by scientists relocated from Nazi Germany, most notably Wernher von Braun, as well as Kurt Debus and Arthur Rudolph. This group had developed the first US launch vehicles, the Redstone rocket family, under the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. All engines were built by Rocketdyne. Boeing built the kerolox S-IC first stage powered by five F-1 engines; these remain the most powerful single chamber liquid-fuelled engines ever built. North American Aviation the hydrolox S-II second stage, and Douglas Aircraft Company the hydrolox S-IVB third stage, powered by five and one J-2 engines respectively. IBM and MSFC designed the rocket's instrument unit. "
As with SpaceX and the Commercial Cargo/Crew projects, NASA sets requirements, milestones, procedures, etc., as they did with Boeing et al during Apollo.
> Borrowing from the US Air Force Minuteman program, Mueller formed the Apollo Executive Group, which consisted of himself and the presidents of Apollo's main contractors.
Sorry I could not understand your point through all the snark.
How is using Schmidt’s company any different than any of the other thousands of military equipment programs? I don’t see how anything you said shows the difference.
NASA hired private companies to engineer and design their early rockets? I thought Wernher von Braun engineered the Saturn V rocket after NASA borrowed him from thew Nazi's
Maybe ES' companies gave they a contract stating they assume all the risks and take not a cent unless they succeed, including reparation on failure, just to win the market.
This mission is an orbital science mission studying Mars' atmosphere, not the same objective as SpaceX's long-term goal of sending large cargo and eventually humans to Mars. So I think the title might be taking the piss just a smidge.
I don't assume "Mars mission" to necessarily mean cargo for settlement or humans. In fact, that all seems quite distant at this point, so I ignore it entirely unless specific concrete actions occur.
So for many people like myself, the title is perfectly reasonable. The world does not revolve around SpaceX and its purported plans.
By that logic the Russians won the space race pretty completely.
only if you squint at it while slightly tilting your head and really want it to be acrimonious.
"NASA picks Eric Schmidt's rocket company for Mars mission" comes no where close to implying it was a manned mission while absolutely being accurate in it's a rocket company being selected for a mission going to Mars. You're reading into it a manned mission.
For context, Relativity gained Eric Schmidt as CEO in March last year.
They built a 3D printed small sat launcher which failed it's first launch. They cancelled further work in favour of Terran R which has less 3D printing. First launch probably early next year. First successful launch, probably late next year.
A Mars mission 2028 is not crazy but it's ambitious.
Don't read too much into this.
The way these always work is they pick a low-stakes mission to give a new competitor a chance to build the market. If they're on track to miss the deadline badly they'll switch vendors to SpaceX who they know can pick up the slack on a short timeline. And if they do manage to deliver, great.
Uh huh. Add it to the list.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_crewed_Mars_mission_pl...
Not crewed.
> a spacecraft to house a suite of scientific instruments
Second sentence of the article.
"Don't read to much into this. It's just a key talent, stable and productive, forming relationships with a key partner, gathering experience that you would think would be critical information to another companies valuation."
I need to jump on this rocket company spacewagon.
You didn't add "make no mistakes" so that first test burn will probably blow up the pad, but now you know.
The first one has to blow up, or you'll never get off the ground.
Now that spacex is public we can expect more headlines like this to sway the price similar to what is done with tesla.
> might just beat SpaceX to Mars.
SpaceX/Musk can always spin it as “we have more ambitious goals than some lowly scientific instruments”.
Well they reached europa i think
Since SpaceX now includes controlling the Twitter culture war narrative, yes... lots of other things to do for "SpaceX."
I say this as a huge fan of the OG SpaceX, and a space nerd in general.
I was thinking that I felt bad for the OG SpaceX folks working on rockets, and Starlink... with all the distractions. However, many of them just became millionaires. So, what do I know.
Elon is a heck of an economic engineer. I would probably want to be along for the ride.
[flagged]
Pathetic response, and even lazier a comment history.
https://postimg.cc/JDyRWZJv/d3056008
[flagged]
what does this even mean?
You know what, neverminded.
Folks, this is not a democracy, or a meritocracy, it is a corpocracy.
Using private rocket companies is highly concerning.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saturn_V
Manufacturer: Boeing (S-IC), North American (S-II), Douglas (S-IVB)
This is a disingenuous statement.
The Saturn V[f] is a retired American super heavy-lift launch vehicle developed by NASA under the Apollo program for human exploration of the Moon.
NASA is not developing Relativity Space's rocket.
"On Tuesday, NASA said it hired the company to build a spacecraft to house a suite of scientific instruments, launch it into space, and fly it to Mars."
Plus, George Mueller, who managed the rocket team, worked for NASA, not some private company. So did all the engineers.
"The largest production model of the Saturn family of rockets, the Saturn V was designed at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) in Huntsville, Alabama. The program was managed by American George Mueller; technical design was led by scientists relocated from Nazi Germany, most notably Wernher von Braun, as well as Kurt Debus and Arthur Rudolph. This group had developed the first US launch vehicles, the Redstone rocket family, under the Army Ballistic Missile Agency. All engines were built by Rocketdyne. Boeing built the kerolox S-IC first stage powered by five F-1 engines; these remain the most powerful single chamber liquid-fuelled engines ever built. North American Aviation the hydrolox S-II second stage, and Douglas Aircraft Company the hydrolox S-IVB third stage, powered by five and one J-2 engines respectively. IBM and MSFC designed the rocket's instrument unit. "
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mueller_(engineer)
As with SpaceX and the Commercial Cargo/Crew projects, NASA sets requirements, milestones, procedures, etc., as they did with Boeing et al during Apollo.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Mueller_(engineer)#NASA...
> Borrowing from the US Air Force Minuteman program, Mueller formed the Apollo Executive Group, which consisted of himself and the presidents of Apollo's main contractors.
Why? Are private companies not the engineering force in most military equipment these days.
Private companies paid with government dollars that employ lots of smart people from public universities.
This is not Arasaka.
Sorry I could not understand your point through all the snark.
How is using Schmidt’s company any different than any of the other thousands of military equipment programs? I don’t see how anything you said shows the difference.
Then you know nothing of NASA and it's history
NASA hired private companies to engineer and design their early rockets? I thought Wernher von Braun engineered the Saturn V rocket after NASA borrowed him from thew Nazi's
Not to design them, but definitely to engineer and build them.
These days NASA doesn’t even build the payloads.
worse
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wernher_von_Braun
I would say same. ;)
https://www.thewrap.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/trump-ina...
Picking company that haven't launched anything at the size and range your need where there are competitors that do is ... interesting move.
Maybe ES' companies gave they a contract stating they assume all the risks and take not a cent unless they succeed, including reparation on failure, just to win the market.
"trust me bro"