Redwire Corporation, one of the leaders in space infrastructure for the next generation space economy, announced that it has been awarded a NASA/JPL contract to conduct a study to conceptualize a Redwire-led commercial Mars spacecraft, which will utilize Redwire’s heritage spacecraft technology to provide surface imagery to industry and government customers. The study could be used to support future Mars exploration missions.

“This presents an exciting opportunity to advance scientific discovery and exploration and we are proud to be recognized as a key commercial partner for future Mars missions,” said Adam Biskner, President of Redwire Space Systems. “Our proven spacecraft systems continue to be a critical capability for NASA and commercial missions to any Earth orbit, cislunar, and deep space.”

Redwire is developing a commercial services concept that will utilize an imaging payload and spacecraft bus to provide high-resolution imagery for science investigations, hazard assessment, change detection, landing site selection, and conducting surface asset monitoring and planning. The spacecraft bus design will draw upon Redwire’s heritage satellite bus design that has been utilized for multiple scientific missions and operated for more than 40 years in orbit without failure. Additionally, through its partnership with Blue Origin, Redwire plans to investigate the extensibility of leveraging the Blue Ring platform as an Orbital Transfer Vehicle for Redwire’s spacecraft.

The imaging payload’s design will utilize Redwire’s Argus platform, a proven vision system that has been demonstrated on orbit and has multiple upcoming missions to low Earth orbit, geostationary orbit, and the Moon. Redwire’s broad array of space infrastructure capabilities is enabling government and commercial missions to low Earth orbit, cislunar, Mars, and beyond.

Click here to learn more about Redwire Space's Surface Imaging Capabilities.

Click here to learn more about NASA's Mars Exploration Program Commercial Study.