One Mars spacecraft, two senators, and a cloud of questions
One Mars spacecraft, two senators, and a cloud of questions
一艘火星航天器、两位参议员与一团疑云
NASA released a much-anticipated contract solicitation for a Mars-orbiting spacecraft late last week, kicking off what is sure to be a hotly contested and potentially controversial procurement. At issue is $700 million, already appropriated by Congress, to build a spacecraft, launch it to Mars, and once there to serve as a vehicle to relay communications between the red planet and Earth. But the stakes may be even bigger than this, including the possible resurrection of the recently canceled Mars Sample Return mission.
上周晚些时候，NASA 发布了一份备受期待的火星轨道航天器合同招标书，由此开启了一场注定竞争激烈且可能引发争议的采购进程。此次招标涉及国会已拨款的 7 亿美元，用于建造一艘航天器并将其发射至火星，使其在抵达后作为火星与地球之间的通信中继站。但此事的利害关系可能远不止于此，甚至可能涉及重启近期已被取消的“火星样本返回”任务。
As part of the new solicitation, NASA says it will conduct the acquisition “as a full and open competition.” But will it? That’s the question that several people involved with this procurement process are asking. And it could turn messy, quickly.
作为新招标的一部分，NASA 表示将以“全面公开竞争”的方式进行采购。但事实真的如此吗？这正是几位参与此次采购流程的人士所提出的质疑。而且，局势可能会迅速变得复杂。
What is not controversial is that NASA needs a new spacecraft capable of relaying communications from Mars to Earth. NASA’s best communications relay today is the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, which has now been there for 20 years. It’s a great spacecraft, but it’s getting long in the tooth. The US Congress, more or less out of the blue, stepped up with $700 million in funding for a new Mars Telecommunications Orbiter in the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed in 2025. Ars previously wrote about this legislation, which raised some eyebrows, as this is a large appropriation for a relatively straightforward spacecraft.
毫无争议的是，NASA 确实需要一艘能够将火星通信中继回地球的新型航天器。NASA 目前最好的通信中继设备是“火星勘测轨道飞行器”（MRO），它已经在那里服役了 20 年。它是一艘伟大的航天器，但已经显得老旧了。美国国会在 2025 年通过的“大而美法案”（One Big Beautiful Bill）中，出人意料地为一艘新的火星通信轨道飞行器提供了 7 亿美元的资金。Ars 此前曾报道过这项立法，当时就引起了一些质疑，因为对于一艘相对简单的航天器来说，这是一笔巨额拨款。
Competition is narrowed
竞争范围缩小
Proposals to build the spacecraft, the name of which has been changed to Mars Telecommunications Network (MTN), are due by June 15. A contract is expected to be awarded by October 1, less than five months from now. There was some curious wording in the legislation that funded the Mars orbiter. It specified the spacecraft must be selected from among US companies that “received funding from the Administration in fiscal year 2024 or 2025 for commercial design studies for Mars Sample Return; and proposed a separate, independently launched Mars telecommunication orbiter supporting an end-to-end Mars sample return mission.”
建造该航天器（现已更名为“火星通信网络”，MTN）的提案截止日期为 6 月 15 日。合同预计将于 10 月 1 日前授予，距离现在不到五个月。资助该火星轨道飞行器的立法中包含了一些令人费解的措辞。它规定，航天器必须从那些“在 2024 或 2025 财年获得管理局资助，用于火星样本返回商业设计研究；并提出了一个支持端到端火星样本返回任务的、独立发射的火星通信轨道飞行器”的美国公司中选出。
Similar language ended up in NASA’s procurement notice, which states that to be eligible to bid, a company needs to “demonstrate that the Offeror proposed a separately and independently launched Mars telecom orbiter to support an end-to-end Mars Sample Return mission.” That seems like a curious requirement. Why must the bidder for a relatively straightforward orbiter around Mars have previously proposed an orbiter as part of an “end-to-end” mission to return samples from Mars? Was Congress seeking to be preferential for a particular company?
类似的措辞也出现在了 NASA 的采购公告中，该公告指出，要获得投标资格，公司需要“证明投标方曾提出过一个独立发射的火星通信轨道飞行器，以支持端到端的火星样本返回任务”。这似乎是一个奇怪的要求。为什么一个相对简单的火星轨道飞行器的竞标者，必须曾提出过作为“端到端”火星样本返回任务一部分的轨道飞行器方案？国会是否在寻求偏袒某家特定公司？
Some hints about what is happening
关于事态发展的线索
The One Big Beautiful Bill was signed into law on July 4, 2025. One month later, as part of its Q2 Investor Update, Rocket Lab included a slide about its plans to support human missions to Mars. In the corner of the slide, the company noted that $700 million had just been appropriated for a Mars orbiter (MTO). “Rocket Lab was the only commercial provider to propose a MTO as part of an end-to-end Mars Sample Return mission to support human exploration and science missions to Mars,” the slide stated.
“大而美法案”于 2025 年 7 月 4 日签署成为法律。一个月后，Rocket Lab 在其第二季度投资者更新中包含了一张关于其支持火星载人任务计划的幻灯片。在幻灯片的角落，该公司指出，刚刚为火星轨道飞行器（MTO）拨款了 7 亿美元。“Rocket Lab 是唯一一家提出将 MTO 作为端到端火星样本返回任务一部分，以支持火星载人探索和科学任务的商业供应商，”幻灯片中写道。
Rocket Lab is one of several companies eligible to compete based on the requirement that bidders have received funding in 2024 or 2025 for a “commercial design study” for a Mars Sample Return mission. Other eligible bidders include: Blue Origin, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, Quantum Space, and Whittinghill Aerospace.
Rocket Lab 是几家有资格参与竞争的公司之一，前提是竞标者必须在 2024 年或 2025 年获得过火星样本返回任务的“商业设计研究”资金。其他符合条件的竞标者包括：蓝色起源（Blue Origin）、L3Harris、洛克希德·马丁（Lockheed Martin）、诺斯罗普·格鲁曼（Northrop Grumman）、SpaceX、Quantum Space 和 Whittinghill Aerospace。
At an “Industry Day” event earlier this year, NASA officials indicated that the contract solicitation would be released by May 1. However, it was two weeks late. Weeks matter when NASA is seeking to have this spacecraft built and launched before the end of the next Mars launch window in late 2028. Ars’ Stephen Clark recently asked Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck if he knew why this delay had occurred. He said he did not. Beck was also asked whether NASA was moving quickly enough given the schedule constraints. “I think there’s plenty of fire lit under them already,” Beck said. “They understand the importance of the mission. So I think we just need to get it out there, and they need to get it awarded, and everybody needs to get to work.”
在今年早些时候的一次“行业日”活动上，NASA 官员曾表示合同招标书将于 5 月 1 日发布。然而，它推迟了两周。当 NASA 寻求在 2028 年底下一个火星发射窗口结束前完成航天器的建造和发射时，每一周都至关重要。Ars 的斯蒂芬·克拉克（Stephen Clark）最近询问 Rocket Lab 首席执行官彼得·贝克（Peter Beck）是否知道延误的原因。他说他不知道。贝克还被问及考虑到时间限制，NASA 的行动是否足够迅速。“我认为他们已经感受到了足够的压力，”贝克说。“他们明白这项任务的重要性。所以我认为我们只需要把它推向市场，他们需要完成合同授予，然后每个人都需要投入工作。”
One source indicated to Ars that this delay was due in part to a letter sent by US Sen. Roger Wicker, R-Miss, earlier in May to NASA. According to this source, Wicker’s letter was interpreted as favorable toward Rocket Lab’s position in the competition. Despite multiple efforts, Ars has been unable to obtain a copy of this letter. A NASA spokesperson, noting that the agency is now in a “blackout” period due to the contract solicitation’s release, declined to confirm the existence of Wicker’s letter or to release it.
一位消息人士向 Ars 表示，此次延误部分归因于美国参议员罗杰·威克（Roger Wicker，密西西比州共和党人）在 5 月初致信 NASA。据该消息人士称，威克的信被解读为对 Rocket Lab 在竞争中的地位有利。尽管多次尝试，Ars 仍未能获得这封信的副本。一位 NASA 发言人指出，由于合同招标书的发布，该机构目前处于“静默期”，拒绝确认威克信件的存在或将其公开。
Mars Sample Return
火星样本返回
Why would Wicker be interested in a space company like Rocket Lab, which was founded in New Zealand and now has its headquarters in Long Beach, California? The answer probably lies in the Stennis Space Center, a rocket engine test facility in southern Mississippi. Rocket Lab already tests its Archimedes rocket engine there and plans to test engines for its Mars orbiter there. Additionally, two sources indicated, the company would likely do more testing there if NASA’s Mars Sample Return (MSR) program were resurrected.
为什么威克会对像 Rocket Lab 这样在新西兰成立、现总部位于加利福尼亚州长滩的太空公司感兴趣？答案可能在于密西西比州南部的火箭发动机测试设施——斯坦尼斯航天中心（Stennis Space Center）。Rocket Lab 已经在那里测试其“阿基米德”（Archimedes）火箭发动机，并计划在那里测试其火星轨道飞行器的发动机。此外，两位消息人士指出，如果 NASA 的火星样本返回（MSR）计划重启，该公司很可能会在那里进行更多的测试。
Do you remember Mars Sample Return? NASA’s plan to return Martian rocks and soil to Earth came under severe scrutiny three years ago when its projected price tag ballooned to $10 billion. This led to much debate, including NASA ultimately asking for cheaper “commercial” proposals from companies like Rocket Lab. “We were a relatively loud voice on MSR, because we just saw a program and a capability that could be solved,” Beck said.
还记得火星样本返回计划吗？三年前，当 NASA 将火星岩石和土壤带回地球的计划预计成本飙升至 100 亿美元时，该计划受到了严格审查。这引发了广泛争论，最终导致 NASA 向 Rocket Lab 等公司寻求更便宜的“商业”方案。“我们在 MSR 问题上发出了相对响亮的声音，因为我们看到了一个可以解决的程序和能力，”贝克说。