I searched this forum and could not find a mention of this announcement from July 2022, and I think this deserves its own thread. While it is in part about Impulse Space, the current discussion about that company is in the Space Tug thread and this is very different.
"Mars" by Kevin M. Gill is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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Impulse and Relativity announce proposal for joint Mars landing mission
Very little specific information was provided at that time. It was going to launch “as soon as 2024”. Then at the Humans to Mars Summit in May 2023 the companies announced some changes to the plan.Impulse would be responsible for building the lander itself as well as the cruise stage and entry capsule. Relativity would launch the spacecraft on the Terran R reusable rocket it is developing...the companies said they envision the lander carrying payloads for government and commercial customers, providing services similar to those by companies developing lunar landers that have won business through NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program.
The Terran-R is similar to the F9. It has yet to fly and the Wikipedia page about it shows “NET 2026”.…the mission, initially slated for next year, would now launch in 2026. Though they didn’t disclose the exact reason behind the delays, they did suggest it might be related to Relativity Space’s decision to discontinue the Terran-1 rocket in favor of turning all attention on the development of its next-generation Terran-R rocket, which is expected to debut in 2026.
Obviously this joint Mars mission has a long way to go and I am a bit skeptical that it will happen in this decade. While no one can question Tom Meuller’s capabilities, Impulse Space has never built anything like a Mars lander. Relativity Space has yet to reach orbit, and when they do they will be competing with the very low cost F9. And how big is the market for very low mass payloads to Mars?The two firms aim to eventually develop a “constant supply chain to Mars,” Josh Brost, senior vice president of revenue operations at Relativity Space, explained at the summit. “By making transport to Mars more affordable, you open up that iteration loop that can lead to advancements that just could not have been envisioned previously,” Brost said, according to the SpaceNews piece.
"Mars" by Kevin M. Gill is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
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