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4h ago

New Glenn Set for Second Flight Today, Launching NASA’s ESCAPADE Mars Twin Probes

The mission showcases NASA’s low-cost SIMPLEx model with twin smallsats built by Rocket Lab for UC Berkeley.

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Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket lifts off on January 16 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
NASA’s Escapade spacecraft, or Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, are shown here being inspected and processed at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on August 22.
Twin Mars orbiters for NASA's EscaPADE mission are secured within the nose cone of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket on October 31 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Overview

  • Liftoff from Cape Canaveral is targeted during an 88-minute window opening at 2:45 p.m. ET, with forecasters calling for about a 65% chance of favorable weather at the start.
  • Blue Origin will prioritize delivering the twin ESCAPADE spacecraft toward an Earth–Sun L2 staging point before a later transfer to Mars, with arrival planned in 2027.
  • The company will again attempt to recover the first-stage booster on the barge Jacklyn after adding propellant management and minor hardware changes following January’s failed landing.
  • A new FAA order restricting daytime commercial launches takes effect Monday, and Blue Origin is seeking an exemption to preserve a Nov. 10 backup attempt in the afternoon.
  • The flight carries a Viasat communications tech demo as a secondary payload and marks New Glenn’s first customer mission under NASA’s Launch Services Program.