Private space companies Impulse Space and Relativity Space have announced an ambitious joint venture that will be the first commercial mission to Mars, which will include a payload launch in 2024.
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A renewed interest in space has private companies turning their attention to Mars, and a new partnership announced Tuesday between Impulse Space and Relativity Space could be the first commercial landing on the red planet. Impulse Space is a company founded by Tom Mueller that specializes in transporting payloads in and around space. Relativity Space, meanwhile, focuses on Production spacecraft that use 3D metal printing, artificial intelligence and autonomous robotics. Impulse will contribute the Mars Cruise Vehicle and Mars Lander to Relativity's Terran R, which is a 3D printed launch vehicle. The launch will be held from Cape Canaveral of Florida as early as 2024 and the companies have an exclusive agreement to launch from there by 2029.
"This is a major milestone for both Impulse and Relativity, as well as for the entire space industry," Tom Mueller said in a press release. Relativity co-founder and CEO Tim Ellis added: "This is a monumental challenge, but one that has been successfully achieved will broaden Possibilities on human experience in our lifetime on two planets."
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The companies say the Mars lander will support research and development of future planetary settlements, but no additional details on how specifically the lander will do this were given.
Terran R is a descendant of Relativity's Terran 1 - a 3D printed rocket scheduled to launch later this year - and the company says Terran R could serve "as a point-to-point space freighter capable of missions between Earth and the Moon and Mars". In other words, Relativity as a company has no Retrieved from even someone rocket and Impulse Space has yet to test one of their payloads in orbit, according to Eric Berger of Ars Technica.
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Mars is becoming the latest target for private space companies that want to be the first to land, but Relativity and Impulse are not the only ones with huge (and potentially unattainable) ambitions. Ο Elon Musk of SpaceX doubled his plans for the red planet in an interview in April 2022, repeating its lofty goal of having 1 million settlers on Mars by the year 2050.
Source of information: gizmodo.com
