NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) twin spacecraft undergo processing inside a high bay at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Thursday, Aug. 22, 2024. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett
Editor’s Note: Post was updated Aug. 26, 2024, to add more information about the spacecraft team.
NASA’s next science mission to Mars is targeted to launch no earlier than Sunday, Oct. 13, on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket from Space Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
The agency’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission consists of two spacecraft, designed and built by Rocket Lab, operating as a coordinated pair. The spacecraft will investigate how a stream of particles from the Sun called the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape.
Blue Origin LLC of Kent, Washington, was awarded a task order to provide launch service for ESCAPADE as part of the agency’s VADR (Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) launch services contract. NASA’s venture class approach lowers launch costs for more risk tolerant science payloads by using less agency oversight, giving the commercial company greater flexibility in managing the launch services for the mission.
Twin NASA spacecraft destined to orbit Mars as a coordinated pair have arrived in Florida in preparation for launch.
With its two spacecraft, NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission will investigate how a stream of particles from the Sun called the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape.
The twin ESCAPADE spacecraft appear side by side at Rocket Lab in Long Beach, California, before being shipped to Florida in August. Credit: Rocket Lab
Rocket Lab designed, built, and tested the two spacecraft at their Spacecraft Production Complex and headquarters in Long Beach, California, for NASA and the University of California, Berkeley, which is leading the science mission. On Aug. 18, 2024, the spacecraft arrived at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville, Florida, to prepare for launch from Cape Canaveral this fall.
Upon delivery, members of the Rocket Lab and UC Berkeley teams moved the spacecraft to a cleanroom to conduct post-transport inspections and tests. Following these checks, the team will fuel the spacecraft next month in preparation for launch on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
“The successful delivery of the spacecraft marks a significant milestone and the culmination of over three years of dedicated teamwork from individuals across the project,” said ESCAPADE’s Principal Investigator Rob Lillis of the Space Sciences Laboratory at UC Berkeley. “Now, we’re thrilled to embark on this first step of our journey to Mars!”
On Aug. 18, 2024, Rocket Lab delivered the two spacecraft for NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville, Florida, in preparation for launch this fall. Credit: NASA/Norman Phelps
After the ESCAPADE spacecraft reach Mars in September 2025, the mission team will need several months to configure their orbits for science observations. In early 2026, the spacecraft will begin flying in a “string of pearls” formation with one spacecraft following the other in roughly the same orbit, looking for rapid changes around Mars in response to variations in the solar wind. Several months later, they will change orbits, allowing one spacecraft to fly farther away from Mars while the other is close so that ESCAPADE can observe both the solar wind and Martian upper atmosphere simultaneously to study the cause and effect of the solar wind on Mars’ atmosphere in real time.
These observations will tell us more about the role of the solar wind in Mars’ climate history and how the Red Planet transitioned from a warm and watery world to the cold, arid place it is today.
ESCAPADE is funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Division and is part of the NASA Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration program. The mission is led by the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, with key partners Rocket Lab; NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland; Embry Riddle Aeronautical University; and Advanced Space LLC. NASA’s Launch Services Program, based at Kennedy Space Center, secured the launch service with Blue Origin under the VADR (Venture-class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare) contract.
