NASA Seeks Industry Concepts on Moon, Mars Communications
NASA is looking for proposals to American companies on innovative communication and navigation capacities on the Relay of the Moon and Mars, because the Agency aims to use the Satellite communication services of the private industry for emerging missions.
On July 7, NASA published a request for proposals, requesting advanced concepts of the industry to establish a communication infrastructure with high bandwidth and high reliability between the lunar surface and a control center for land operations, as well as concepts that establish a critical communication relay on the Martian surface and the transfer data between March and the Earth.
“These partnerships promote significant progress in communications and navigation,” said Greg Heckler, Deputy Director of Assistant Program for the Development of Capacities in the SCAN (Space Communications and Navigation) program of NASA. “This allows our astronauts, our Rovers, our spaceships – all the NASA missions – to extend the exploration by humanity of the moon, from Mars and beyond.”
NASA’s demand directly supports the long -term vision of the agency of a spatial communication and interoperable navigation infrastructure which allows science, exploration and economic development in space. NASA, as one of the many customers, will establish a market that supports profitable commercial services involving communication needs on and around the moon and March.
The answers are due before 5 p.m. PM on Wednesday August 13.
The NASA digitization program is the agency’s spatial communications and navigation management office. More than 100 NASA and non-Nasa missions rely on the two scan networks, the nearby space network and the Deep space network, to support astronauts aboard the International Space Station and future Artemis missions, monitor the Météo de la Terre, maintains lunar exploration and discover the solar system and beyond.
Learn more about the NASA digitization program to:
https://www.nasa.gov/Scan
Contact on the media:
Claire O’Shea
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
Claire.a.o’shea@nasa.gov
