Mars One Contracts with Lockheed, SSTL for Robotic Precursor Studies

摘要

Mars One, a Dutch nonprofit that wants to send volunteer settlers on one-way trips to Mars beginning in 2025, gave Lockheed Martin Space Systems and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) contracts to design a robotic lander and telecommunications orbiter intended for launch to the red planet in 2018. The contracts are for designs studies only and, at a combined value of only about $340,000, are a long way from a commitment to purchase space hardware. Lockheed Martin will design the Mars One lander, which will be based on the 350-kilogram Phoenix lander the Denver-based company helped NASA send to Mars in 2008. U.K.-based SSTL will design the telecom orbiter, according to Mars One's Dec. 10 press release. Lockheed's contract is worth $256,000, while SSTL's contract is worth 60,000 euros, or roughly $82,000, according to Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and chief executive of Mars One.