NASA picks Eric Schmidt's rocket company for Mars mission

NASA selected Eric Schmidt's rocket company for a Mars mission, and now there's a real race with SpaceX.

The deal gives Schmidt's company a shot at the same kind of deep-space contracts that helped make SpaceX a household name. It's a direct challenge to the company that's been dominating who gets to fly to Mars.

For the broader tech community watching, this is a signal that the space industry is opening up beyond the usual suspects. When NASA picks a contractor, it's not just choosing a company—it's choosing who controls the next decade of space access.

Why this matters for us: When the government picks a player, it's not just choosing a contractor—it's choosing who gets to control the next decade of space access, and that ripples down to everyone who depends on satellite infrastructure and the tech ecosystem that feeds it.