SpaceX has launched thousands of satellites into Earth orbit and is now exploring similar plans for Mars. The company is proposing to NASA a Marslink constellation based on its Starlink design to provide communications for future missions to the Red Planet.

During a recent meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Review Group, a NASA presentation illustrated three different proposals for communications networks to be installed in Mars orbit, Spaceflight Now reported. Proposals included a pitch for a Marslink constellation or “multiple SpaceX satellites placed in Mars orbit to provide full visibility and interoperability for ground and orbital assets,” the presentation said.

9/ DRM 4 focuses on communication to and from Mars. pic.twitter.com/JwSVSNoE1s

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In early September, SpaceX launched its 7,000th Starlink satellite into orbit as part of its growing Internet constellation. Starlink is currently operational in 102 countrieswith SpaceX planning expansions to reach even more regions around the world. Overall, the company wants to build a massive constellation of 42,000 satellites in low Earth orbit.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk also has his eyes on Mars, with ambitious plans not only to send human crews to the Red Planet, but also to “colonize Mars” and build permanent habitats on the rugged terrain . It’s no surprise then that SpaceX would like to expand its network of internet satellites to the other world.

NASA’s presentation included two other proposals from Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin. As part of the proposed plan for a relay network around Mars, Blue Origin suggests using it Blue Ring Orbital Tugwhich is designed to provide hosting, transport, refueling, data relay and logistics as well as cloud computing in space. The company is preparing to test the Blue Ring as part of the DarkSky-1 (DS-1) mission, which is sponsored by the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit. Although the exact release date has not yet been specified.

For its proposal, Lockheed Martin suggests using MAVEN (Abbreviation from Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutionN). The NASA spacecraft, built by Lockheed Martin, was launched in 2013 to study the atmospheric loss of Mars. To facilitate communication, the MAVEN spacecraft would be transferred to a communications orbit and work similarly to NASA’s Deep Space Network radio antenna network.

The presentation shows that NASA plans to rely heavily on commercial partners for future Mars exploration, hoping to use private companies to help the space agency establish a sustainable, long-term human presence on the Red Planet.

NASA is working on it too developing its own laser-based communication to deep space destinationsexperimenting with optical communication systems that can deliver data using photons of light. Getting to Mars is only half the battle, the real challenge is building an infrastructure that can support future human missions to the Red Planet.