As NASA selects former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s rocket company for Mars mission, some analysts see it as a ‘risk’
NASA has tapped former Google CEO Eric Schmidt’s Relativity Space company to launch an ambitious new mission to Mars. The space agency said it has contracted with Relativity to design, build and launch a spacecraft headed to Mars orbit. Relativity Space is a manufacturer of 3D printing rockets that was acquired by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt in 2025. The mission, dubbed “Aeolus,” will carry a suite of four science instruments designed to provide the first global daily view of Martian dust, winds and atmospheric temperature. NASA officials hope the resulting data will be crucial to ensuring the safety of future robotic landers and, ultimately, human astronauts.The agreement is structured under a public-private partnership model pioneered by NASA’s landmark deals with SpaceX for space station shipping and Firefly Aerospace for lunar landers. In this context, the government agency manages the scientific payload while the private partner absorbs part of the development costs and provides low-cost infrastructure.NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, a two-time private astronaut with SpaceX and a strong champion of business partnerships, praised the collaboration. In a statement, Isaacman noted that linking world-class government tools with commercial innovation allows the agency to deliver more science, more frequently, while accelerating the timeline for obtaining essential data for researchers preparing for human missions. “The quest to discover the secrets of the universe is a shared endeavor, not exclusive to the world’s space agencies. At NASA, we are grateful to partner with and support @ericschmidt and the @relativityspace team, and hope this mission will serve as a model for future privately funded philanthropic efforts in space,” Isaacman wrote in a post on X, formerly Twitter.
Analysts say NASA is taking risks
The Aeolus mission is scheduled to launch in 2028, giving Relativity just two years to finish designing the spacecraft and finish developing the rocket needed to escape Earth’s gravity. NASA did not disclose the financial terms of the contract.According to a report published on Techcrunch, “NASA is also taking risks.” Analysts see the mission as a high-risk gamble for NASA, as relativity remains largely unproven in the orbital market. By pushing public-private partnerships into deep space, NASA is not only increasing its budget, but is also seen as taking significant risks. Previous startup partners have faced bankruptcy or mission failure, and the commercial viability of services as far away as Mars remains highly uncertain. Relativity Space was started in 2015 by former SpaceX and Blue Origin engineers with a focus on maximizing 3D printing technology; The company’s first rocket, Terran-1, failed mid-flight during its debut in March 2023. Relativity subsequently turned into a much larger vehicle, Terran R, but faced severe fundraising hurdles before Schmidt stepped in last year to take a majority stake and take on the role of CEO.While Schmidt has remained tight-lipped about his long-term strategy, industry insiders have noted his interest in orbiting data centers and a separate space telescope project, Lazuli, which is funded by his family’s charitable foundation, Schmidt Sciences.
