The space agency is looking to collaborate with private companies to implement ambitious scientific missions to the Red Planet
NASA plans to explore the potential of commercial partnerships for future science missions to Mars by this summer. On January 29, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) issued a request for commercial research proposals to develop robotic missions to Mars. The duration of the research will be 12 weeks, and the cost will be up to $300,000.
The study aims to examine four mission missions to identify commercial opportunities to support scientific research on Mars: delivery of small payloads weighing up to 20 kilograms to Mars orbit, delivery of large payloads weighing up to 1250 kilograms to Mars orbit, services for creation of high-resolution images of the Martian surface and communication relay services between Mars and Earth.
These studies are part of the strategy for the future of Mars exploration introduced by NASA almost a year ago called Exploring Mars Together. It envisages robotic missions that will be sent after delivering samples from Mars.
«We are interested in seeing what the commercial sector has to offer. We intend to select several options, evaluate their cost, feasibility and technical maturity of potential services on Mars», — said NASA Mars Exploration Program Director Eric Janson at a meeting of the Planetary Science Advisory Committee on March 4.
Proposals were submitted to JPL on February 27, and the agency plans to distribute the award in April. This will allow the results of the research to be published «sometime in the summer», according to Janson.
Some research is looking at how partnerships can help overcome emerging problems with NASA's Mars infrastructure. «Our data relay system on Mars is aging, we are worried about the possibility of transmitting data from the surface of Mars to Earth», — noted Yanson.
The same applies to the high-resolution images now being captured by the HiRISE camera on the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has been on Mars for nearly two decades.
The research will examine not only the technical feasibility of the proposed missions, but also their commercial viability. Janson gave the example of data relay. «Is the commercial sector interested in providing services related to communications relay on Mars, and if so, how much will it cost, how will it be implemented, and how to develop public-private partnerships?».
The issue of commercial viability concerns committee members, who drew parallels with NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) project. They wondered whether there would be enough interest outside NASA.
«We're not talking about just taking CLPS and applying it to Mars. This is a different business model. But the idea of a service approach is worth exploring— Laurie Glaze, director of NASA's planetary science division, said at the meeting.
In parallel with commercial exploration, NASA is working to improve the “Exploring Mars Together” strategy introduced last year. For now, the strategy exists primarily in the form of charts and presentations, Janson said, but the agency has received a lot of comments from the scientific community and is incorporating them into the plan. The formal written version of the strategy is expected to be completed this summer.