Nasa is asking for help to get data back from its science missions orbiting Mars or roaming its surface.
The US space agency is acting now to close a potential communications gap that is set to occur in 2020.
It currently has no plans to launch orbiters capable of taking over data relay duties from existing, ageing spacecraft.
Nasa is seeking input from universities and companies about better ways to relay the data back to Earth.
Nasa currently relies on two craft orbiting Mars, Odyssey and the Reconnaissance Orbiter, to pass on data beamed to them from the Curiosity rover.
The two spacecraft can send data back to Earth at a rate of about 2Mbps – much faster than the 500bps the rover can manage by itself.
Data relay duties are set to be taken over by two newer spacecraft that are due to arrive at Mars in 2014 and 2016. Nasa’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) satellite will go into service in September 2014 and Europe’s ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter craft will turn up in 2016.
