How much did Mars Cube One cost to build?
Mars Cube One (MarCO) was the experimental NASA mission of two identical CubeSats, MarCO-A and MarCO-B, nicknamed WALL-E and EVE by Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers, that flew to Mars with the InSight lander, launched on 5 May 2018 on an Atlas V from Vandenberg, and relayed InSight's entry, descent and landing signals as a bent-pipe UHF relay before passing Mars into solar orbit. The Planetary Society wrote in May 2018 that MarCO costs USD 18.5 million, as does Wikipedia.
Reported project cost
$18.5 million
Cost basis: 2018
NASAPublic domain
Cost evidence
Basis of the published figure
Reported project cost2018
Project metrics
Key dimensions
- Massplanetary.org
- 13.5 kg
Project record
Opened or launched
planetary.org5 May 2018