NASA has awarded Blue Origin a contract, potentially worth $700 million, to design and build the Mars Telecommunications Network, a high-performance orbiter that will relay data between Mars and Earth. The orbiter will carry science data, imagery, navigation information and mission-critical communications for spacecraft on and around the planet, supporting NASA's longer-term ambition of sending astronauts to Mars following its Artemis lunar programme.

Blue Origin must deliver the orbiter by 31 December 2028, and the deal follows the company's earlier contract to build lunar landers at the start of this year. The award comes despite recent setbacks for Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, which suffered a launchpad explosion in May; while the firm's chief executive said repairs would be finished by the end of 2026, NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman has suggested the pad may not be usable again until 2028.