WASHINGTON – The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has released draft requirements for its prospective high-performance Mars telecommunications orbiter under its Mars Telecommunications Network (MTM) program. NASA anticipates releasing a draft request for proposals and is providing an “MTN Objectives and Requirements Document” for industry review and optional comment ahead of that release.
The planned procurement covers design, development, integration, launch, and on-orbit operations of a Mars telecommunications orbiter to provide continuous communications for a future Mars sample return campaign and other robotic and human exploration missions. The agency said the spacecraft must support autonomous operations, onboard processing, and extended mission duration capabilities.
NASA previously referred to the effort as the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter. The MTN spacecraft would provide relay services between Mars surface and orbital assets and Earth, including communications, Doppler, range, and time-transfer services to support positioning, navigation, and timing.
Draft requirements
Under the draft requirements, the MTN spacecraft must provide at least five years of operational communications and positioning, navigation, and timing services beginning at operational readiness. Completed hardware delivery to NASA, including all associated reviews and inspections, is required by 31 December 2028, with full operational readiness no later than the end of calendar year 2030.
The spacecraft must support direct-to-Earth links compatible with NASA’s Deep Space Network under the DSN Mission Interface Design Handbook and Telecommunications Link Design Handbook. Threshold requirements include direct-to-Earth data rates of at least 0.1 megabits per second forward and 1 megabit per second return at maximum Mars-Earth range of approximately 400 million kilometers, and onboard capability to support data rates up to 100 Mbps under favorable conditions.
For proximity links to Mars surface and orbital assets, the MTN system must support legacy UHF and advanced proximity communications, adaptive data rates, and simultaneous full-duplex links. Threshold proximity data rates include at least 2 Mbps per user for UHF links and at least 25 Mbps per user for advanced non-UHF links under nominal conditions at zenith.
Store-and-forward comms
The draft requirements also call for store-and-forward capability of at least 10 terabytes for direct-to-Earth links and 0.5 terabytes for proximity links, cybersecurity and command protection consistent with industry best practices, compliance with planetary protection and orbital debris standards, and implementation of CCSDS Bundle Protocol version 7 interfaces.
Responses and feedback on the objectives and requirements document are due no later than 2:00 p.m. Eastern on 10 March 2026. NASA named Alisha Mercadante as the primary point of contact for this project. They can be reached via email at [email protected]. More information, including technical details, is available at https://sam.gov/workspace/contract/opp/b3a742c77859462caa7df5e489c4b045/view.