NASA selects Eric Schmidt’s rocket company for a 2028 mission to Mars

美国国家航空航天局（NASA）选中埃里克·施密特的火箭公司执行 2028 年火星任务

Relativity Space, the rocket company led by former Google executive Eric Schmidt, was picked to launch NASA’s Aeolus payload to Mars in 2028, as reported earlier by TechCrunch. Under a new public-private partnership, Relativity Space will provide the “spacecraft, rocket, and cruise operations” to fly Aeolus to Mars, where the payload will “provide the first integrated, daily, global view of Martian winds, temperatures, dust, and clouds.”

据 TechCrunch 此前报道，由前谷歌高管埃里克·施密特（Eric Schmidt）领导的火箭公司 Relativity Space 已被选中，负责在 2028 年将 NASA 的“风神”（Aeolus）载荷发射至火星。根据一项新的公私合作伙伴关系，Relativity Space 将提供“航天器、火箭及巡航操作”，将 Aeolus 送往火星。该载荷将“首次提供关于火星风、温度、尘埃和云层的综合性每日全球观测数据”。

The Aeolus payload will have four instruments on board for studying the Martian atmosphere, which NASA says will “directly inform entry, descent, and landing systems and support safer, more predictable mission planning for astronauts.”

Aeolus 载荷将搭载四台仪器用于研究火星大气。NASA 表示，这些数据将“直接为进入、下降和着陆系统提供参考，并为宇航员提供更安全、更可预测的任务规划支持”。

Schmidt, who served as CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011, became Relativity Space’s CEO in 2025, a couple of years after it launched the “world’s first 3D-printed rocket,” Terran 1, which failed shortly after launch. Relativity Space’s larger Terran R rocket isn’t scheduled to have its first launch until later this year.

施密特曾于 2001 年至 2011 年担任谷歌首席执行官，并于 2025 年出任 Relativity Space 的首席执行官。此前几年，该公司曾发射了“全球首枚 3D 打印火箭”Terran 1，但该火箭在发射后不久便宣告失败。Relativity Space 更大型的 Terran R 火箭计划于今年晚些时候进行首次发射。