Rocket Lab has filed a protest with the US Government Accountability Office over NASA's decision to award a $700 million Mars spacecraft contract to Blue Origin. The company announced the filing on Friday, arguing that NASA's selection for the Mars Telecommunications Network was inconsistent with eligibility criteria set by Congress. Rocket Lab also said the agency's review of its technical volume was punitive and contained incorrect assertions and conclusions.
Blue Origin responded that the protest could delay the mission's goal of launching in 2028. The company said it remains confident in its proposal, in NASA's selection process, and in Congress's intent to support competition for the program. It added that with limited Mars launch windows, any delay risks the timely deployment of the communications capability.
The Mars Telecommunications Network spacecraft originated in the supplemental funding package for NASA included in the One Big Beautiful Bill, passed by Congress in 2025. The new start was not widely expected in the space community but was welcomed because NASA's spacecraft orbiting Mars are aging. The NASA-specific legislation, led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), specified that the orbiter must be chosen from US companies that received funding from the Administration in fiscal year 2024 or 2025 for commercial design studies for Mars Sample Return, and that had proposed a separate, independently launched Mars telecommunication orbiter supporting an end-to-end Mars sample return mission.
Rocket Lab is one of several companies eligible under the commercial design study requirement. Others are Blue Origin, L3Harris, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX, Quantum Space, and Whittinghill Aerospace. Sources said the end-to-end language was intended to favor Rocket Lab and its telecommunications orbiter proposal. Around the time the legislation passed, Rocket Lab believed it was the only company to propose a qualifying end-to-end mission, a claim it made to shareholders during its Q2 2025 investor update. Sources said Cruz's office was responsible for the language overall, while Sen. Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) was involved with the Mars Telecommunications Network language.
NASA has not publicly released a source selection statement explaining its technical rationale, nearly two weeks after the award. It is possible the agency lacked confidence in Rocket Lab completing development of the spacecraft and its Neutron rocket by late 2028, when the mission is due to launch, or that selection officials viewed Blue Origin's Blue Ring technology as more capable. The award process has been contested through technical proposals, political maneuvers, and social media exchanges between Rocket Lab and Blue Origin. The contract is the first time NASA has used a fixed-price contract to select a US company to build a spacecraft, launch it, and operate a network around another planet. Blue Origin, at least for now, holds a first-mover advantage in future Solar System exploration for NASA.
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