NASA’s ESCAPADE Mission to Mars Receives Launch Date from Blue Origin

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

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 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.

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