NASA Awards Blue Origin $700M Contract for Interplanetary Mars Network

NASA awarded Blue Origin up to $700M to develop a high-bandwidth Mars communications network for future missions to the Red Planet. The company faces a hard engineering deadline to deliver the high-performance Mars telecommunications orbiter no later than December 2028. The New York Times reports Blue Origin is seeking $10B in outside funding at a $130B valuation to scale operations, though the company hasn't verified the capital raise. The deal signals a strategic pivot beyond standard launch services toward owning broader space infrastructure like their planned 5,408-satellite TeraWave network. NASA is already locked in with Blue Origin's Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance lander for a Moon Base mission targeted for fall 2026.