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NASA’s Twin ESCAPADE Spacecraft Arrive at KSC for Fall Launch on New Glenn

The mission advances a low-cost, two-satellite study of Mars’ atmospheric escape, potentially bolstering New Glenn’s path to Space Force certification.

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Two satellites for NASA's upcoming Mars-bound Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission arrived to Kennedy Space Center ahead of a planned launch on a Blue Origin New Glenn this fall. (Courtesy/Rocket Lab)
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Overview

  • Rocket Lab delivered the Explorer-class pair, Blue and Gold, to a Kennedy Space Center cleanroom for post-transport inspections and functional testing ahead of fueling and encapsulation.
  • Launch is scheduled no earlier than this fall from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 36 on Blue Origin’s New Glenn, which would be the rocket’s second mission.
  • The spacecraft will cruise to Mars for about 22 months before entering complementary elliptical orbits, with arrival now expected in 2027 and a one-year science campaign to follow.
  • ESCAPADE will make simultaneous two-point measurements of Mars’ magnetosphere to investigate how the solar wind strips particles from the planet’s atmosphere.
  • Built in about three and a half years on Rocket Lab’s Explorer/Photon platform under NASA’s SIMPLEx program, the mission flies under a $20 million Blue Origin task order.