Good to see different vendors being used to send stuff into space. Rocket Lab this time with a NASA payload.
A recent ruling by the FCC has allowed SpaceX to move closer to having SAT COM on moving vehicles. These would include "earth stations on vessels, vehicle-mounted earth stations, and earth stations aboard aircraft."
Airbus engineer Sophie Narbonne (Attitude And Orbit Control System (AOCS) Architect for MSR-ERO mission)and her colleagues are developing the first interplanetary cargo courier. Earth Return Orbiter will bring the first-ever Mars samples to Earth in the early 2030s, allowing scientists to determine whether other life exists in our universe. ERO is currently under development and will be launched in 2027 on a Ariane 64. It will enter Martian orbit in 2030, capture and “swallow” the basketball sized capsule carrying the Mars samples in 2031. ERO will then fly back to Earth and deposit them in the Utah desert in 2033. The samples will then be delivered to several international laboratories where, for the first time ever, scientists can study rock samples from Mars.