Four astronauts — Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen — are circling Earth aboard the Orion spacecraft right now, and the data streaming back from their Artemis II mission is already reshaping NASA’s plans for the Moon and Mars.

Only companies that worked on the Mars Sample Return program need apply, narrowing the field to a handful of space industry heavyweights. NASA is looking for ways to improve the communications network that connects the Earth to Mars. Improvements are ...