NASA picks Eric Schmidt’s rocket company for Mars mission, setting up a race with SpaceX

techcrunch.com Jun 18, 2026

NASA picks Eric Schmidt’s rocket company for Mars mission, setting up a race with SpaceX

Curated by Shubham · TechCapsules · Jun 18, 2026

AI-summarised brief · reviewed before publication

NASA has hired Relativity Space, a rocket maker acquired by Eric Schmidt, to build a spacecraft for a Mars mission. The spacecraft, dubbed Aeolus, will carry four instruments to measure and image Mars from orbit, providing daily global views of dust, winds, and temperature. The mission is set to launch in 2028, with Relativity responsible for designing and building the spacecraft and rocket. The partnership allows NASA to stretch its budget further, while Relativity takes on development costs. The mission aims to make it safer for landers and astronauts to visit Mars' surface. Relativity's selection marks a significant step for the company, which has faced challenges in the past.

💡 Why It Matters

· Relativity's potential success could give Eric Schmidt an edge over Elon Musk in the private space race.
· A successful launch would make Relativity the first private company to reach Mars, beating SpaceX to the milestone.

Capsules Space

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Europe’s Space Ambitions Receive a Boost from OBH’s Investment Strategy

German space technology group OBH has announced plans to issue new shares to raise capital for future investments, reflecting the opportunities and challenges facing Europe's growing space industry. The move aims to secure fresh capital for research and development, acquisitions, infrastructure expansion, and the commercialization of new technologies. Existing shareholders may experience some dilution of their ownership stakes, but management argues that the long-term benefits outweigh the short-term impact. The global space sector is experiencing unprecedented growth, driven by advances in satellite communications, Earth observation systems, and defense applications.

💡 European companies like OBH must invest aggressively to remain competitive in a rapidly evolving global market, where major players in the US and Asia have fueled rapid technological advancement through significant public and private investments.

spacenews.com · Jun 18

Chinese startup Spark Space tests engine, raises funds for electric-pump rocket

Chinese startup Spark Space has secured funding for its electric-pump-fed rocket, the Jinhua-1, following successful engine tests. The rocket is set to debut in 2027 and will be powered by nine Lieyan-2 engines, giving it a liftoff thrust of 90 tons. The company has raised nearly 100 million yuan in a Pre-A round and tens of millions of yuan in Pre-A+ funding, with plans to use the funds to develop the rocket. The Jinhua-1 has a payload capacity of 1,500 kilograms to low Earth orbit and 1,000 kg to sun-synchronous orbit. Spark Space aims to provide a low-cost option for satellite constellation deployment.

💡 Spark Space's electric-pump-fed rocket could disrupt the small launch market with its high payload capacity and potential for cost savings. Its ability to produce 10 tons of thrust per engine surpasses that of Rocket Lab's Electron rocket, making it a significant player in the industry.

techtimes.com · Jun 18

Satellite AI Inference Clears Orbit: Gemma 3 Ran Aboard YAM-9 in April

Loft Orbital's YAM-9 spacecraft successfully demonstrated the first publicly disclosed execution of a vision-language model in orbit. Aboard the spacecraft, Google DeepMind's Gemma 3 performed natural language queries, classified Earth imagery, and produced plain-English summaries without transmitting raw pixels to the ground. This achievement marks a significant shift in the value layer of Earth observation, moving from ground-based processing to onboard inference capabilities. The model, running on an Nvidia Jetson Orin AGX graphics processing unit, utilized a software harness developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to fit within the spacecraft's memory budget and processing constraints.

💡 This breakthrough enables Earth observation satellites to operate more autonomously, reducing reliance on ground-based processing and potentially leading to faster and more efficient analysis of satellite imagery.

space.com · Jun 17

‘Best. Mars. Mission. Ever.’ Scientists hail MAVEN’s legacy as NASA retires Red…

NASA has officially begun decommissioning the MAVEN orbiter, marking the end of an 11-year mission that significantly advanced scientists' understanding of Mars. The spacecraft lost contact in December 2025 after a routine communications blackout, and despite months of recovery efforts, it was determined that MAVEN was not recoverable. The mission, which was originally planned to last two years, far exceeded its goals, providing crucial insights into Mars' atmosphere, including the impact of solar storms on atmospheric gas loss. MAVEN's findings have contributed to over 800 scientific publications and have helped establish a clearer picture of the forces that transformed Mars over billions of years.

💡 The loss of MAVEN highlights the risks and uncertainties inherent in space exploration, but its legacy will endure as a testament to human ingenuity and scientific curiosity. By pushing the boundaries of our understanding of Mars, MAVEN has paved the way for future missions and discoveries, ensuring that the Red Planet remains a vital area of research and exploration.

spacenews.com · Jun 17

Dawn Aerospace raises $25 million

Dawn Aerospace has secured $25 million in funding to scale up its work in in-space transportation and suborbital spaceplanes. The company, valued at $196 million, plans to use the funding for a global rollout of its services, establishing teams in the United States and Europe. Dawn currently sells thrusters for spacecraft and has grown its annual revenue from $3 million in 2022 to $15 million, with the company now cash-flow positive. The company is developing an in-space refueling system and a suborbital spaceplane, with plans for commercial refueling services in 2029.

💡 This investment will accelerate Dawn Aerospace's growth in emerging markets, including hypersonics testing and in-space mobility. By delivering reusable, responsive access across the air and space domain, Dawn can unlock the economic potential of space and solve critical national security challenges.

spacenews.com · Jun 17

America’s next economic frontier is 240,000 miles away

NASA's Artemis 2 astronauts have completed the first crewed lunar orbit in 50 years, marking a new era of returning to the moon. The moon is no longer just a place of scientific curiosity, but America's next great economic frontier, with its surface holding valuable resources such as water ice, hydrogen, and helium-3. Commercial space companies like Firefly Aerospace are already involved, with plans for repeatable missions to the moon, including a mission to the far side within the year. The goal is to establish a permanent moon base, with mining, resource extraction, and manufacturing driving a massive economic boom. NASA and commercial space companies are working together to achieve this, with the global space economy expected to reach $1.8 trillion by 2035. The moon's resources will support sustained human presence and enable new industries beyond Earth, with the US at the forefront.

💡 The moon's low gravity makes it an ideal location for launching materials into space, reducing costs and enabling new opportunities for space exploration. Establishing a permanent moon base will also drive innovation in industries such as energy and technology.