Impulse and Relativity announce proposal for joint Mars landing mission

[ecarfan]

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.

Impulse and Relativity announce proposal for joint Mars landing mission​

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.

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.

…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.

The Terran-R is similar to the F9. It has yet to fly and the Wikipedia page about it shows “NET 2026”.

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.

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?

"Mars" by Kevin M. Gill is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Admin note: Image added for Blog Feed thumbnail

 

[JB47394]

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?

I agree that going to Mars seems pretty absurd. Perhaps they consider the manifest for Moon missions in the coming years to be too crowded, and don't want to be an also-ran by the time they actually get anything lofted.

As ever, I wonder what will happen to the space business once Starship is flying regularly. Does everything but national programs go away?

 

[scaesare]

I wonder if this is an attempt to become a player in what they see will be a burgeoning market if Elon's Mars settlement aspirations become reality.

While Starship will be more capable (and likely cheaper per-Kg), and it will do the lion's share of the transport to Mars, that also means it's likely to be booked quite a bit, and there's always going to be room for smaller secondary players to carve out a niche for themselves...

 

[JB47394]

While Starship will be more capable (and likely cheaper per-Kg), and it will do the lion's share of the transport to Mars, that also means it's likely to be booked quite a bit, and there's always going to be room for smaller secondary players to carve out a niche for themselves...

Not for bulk items. The only way I see other players carving out a niche is if there are payloads (regardless of destination) that cannot tolerate the Starship treatment. Perhaps small, highly-radioactive payloads that you wouldn't put in the same cargo bay as other payloads. Payloads that can't tolerate Starship's launch, transit or reentry profile. Smaller payloads going places that nobody else wants to go, and so don't qualify for a full Starship trip. And so on.

If SpaceX retains Falcon 9, then it may be that not even those payloads would represent an opportunity.

A really clever entrepreneur would avoid competition with the behemoth, and instead provide complementary services. That is, once Starship is up and running, what business opportunities will open up? When the gold rush hit in California, it was the guys selling shovels who made all the money.

 

[scaesare]

Not for bulk items. The only way I see other players carving out a niche is if there are payloads (regardless of destination) that cannot tolerate the Starship treatment. Perhaps small, highly-radioactive payloads that you wouldn't put in the same cargo bay as other payloads. Payloads that can't tolerate Starship's launch, transit or reentry profile. Smaller payloads going places that nobody else wants to go, and so don't qualify for a full Starship trip. And so on.

If SpaceX retains Falcon 9, then it may be that not even those payloads would represent an opportunity.

A really clever entrepreneur would avoid competition with the behemoth, and instead provide complementary services. That is, once Starship is up and running, what business opportunities will open up? When the gold rush hit in California, it was the guys selling shovels who made all the money.

I dunno. It seems that having a second source, especially for launch services, even if not as low priced, seems desirable... especially to gov't entities. Especially if they have some sort of niche... perhaps schedule or route/orbit, etc...