NASA has struck a new public-private partnership with Relativity Space to send a suite of weather instruments to Mars in 2028. The space agency will build the Aeolus payload, and Relativity Space will provide the spacecraft, rocket and interplanetary flight operations to deliver the hardware.
This agreement marks a new strategy in how NASA conducts deep space research. While private companies have regularly ferried cargo to the International Space Station and are now delivering science gear to the moon, treating a mission to Mars as a commercial delivery service is a relatively new concept for NASA. The agency began studying this idea in 2024 to see if the private sector could lower costs and increase how often scientists can send hardware to Mars.
The Aeolus mission will provide the first daily global look at Martian winds, temperatures, dust and clouds. Researchers at the NASA Ames Research Center in California will design and build the four instruments making up the payload. Relativity Space will then integrate the equipment into its spacecraft and manage the entire flight. The data collected will help scientists understand Martian weather patterns. This information is vital for safely navigating the atmosphere and landing future robotic and human missions on the surface.
“Public-private partnerships like this are a force multiplier for science,” said NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman. “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.”
The Aeolus payload includes four specialized sensors. These will measure surface energy, dust thickness and cloud properties, as well as wind speeds and temperatures up to 60 kilometres above the surface. A specialized camera will also capture daily images of atmospheric activity. NASA plans to process the data and support the science operations for at least one Martian year, which equals about 687 days on Earth. Relativity Space will be responsible for maintaining the physical spacecraft during that time.
The project operates under a six-year Space Act Agreement that benefits both organizations. NASA can dedicate its budget strictly to high-value scientific instruments and data processing without the full financial burden of developing a launch vehicle. In return, Relativity Space gains the opportunity to test its Terran rocket and spacecraft on a high-profile interplanetary journey. Successfully delivering a NASA payload to Mars gives the company critical flight experience, proving its deep-space capabilities and making it a competitor for lucrative future launch contracts.