NASA removed ESCAPADE from the Psyche launch in 2020 after a trajectory change linked to Psyche’s switch from Falcon 9 to Falcon Heavy prevented ESCAPADE from achieving Mars orbit as originally designed.
The Frontier-X radio has completed qualification and is slated to fly on NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars for which Rocket Lab is developing and building two spacecraft.
The Blue Origin award for launching ESCAPADE is listed in a government procurement database with a value of $20,000,000 and $6,000,000 obligated to date as of 2023-02-10.
NASA’s Launch Services Program awarded Blue Origin’s New Glenn the ESCAPADE launch contract on 2023-02-09.
The SIMPLEx awards NASA made in 2019 for Janus, EscaPADE, and Lunar Trailblazer had cost caps of $55,000,000.
Lunar Trailblazer was one of three missions selected in 2019 for NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program alongside Janus and EscaPADE.
EscaPADE revised its mission design to use spacecraft buses from Rocket Lab and is slated for launch in 2024.
Rocket Lab selected Photon as an interplanetary spacecraft platform for multiple missions, including the ESCAPADE mission to Mars in 2024 and a private mission to Venus.
NASA approved a revised EscaPADE plan in 2021 that uses Rocket Lab Photon spacecraft buses with greater propulsion capabilities than the original design.
Rocket Lab is supplying Photon spacecraft buses for the twin ESCAPADE spacecraft and committed to adhere to the mission’s $55,000,000 cost cap.
ESCAPADE is a NASA-funded smallsat mission to Mars with a cost cap of $55,000,000 and is scheduled to launch in 2024.
NASA is seeking a rideshare opportunity for EscaPADE as soon as January 2024 to enable the spacecraft to arrive at Mars about 11 months later.
Rocket Lab won a contract from the University of California Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory in June to develop a new EscaPADE design based on Rocket Lab’s Photon satellite bus.
Both Photon spacecraft for ESCAPADE incorporate satellite subsystems developed and manufactured by Rocket Lab, including star trackers, reaction wheels, ranging transceivers for deep space navigation, and in-space propulsion systems.
EscaPADE is planned to launch on a NASA-supplied vehicle, not a Rocket Lab Electron, in 2024 if the mission passes required reviews and is confirmed for development by NASA.
The Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley contracted Rocket Lab on 2021-06-15 to study using Photon for the EscaPADE mission to Mars.
EscaPADE was selected by NASA in 2019 and underwent a redesign involving Photon after losing its original rideshare on the Psyche mission.
Rocket Lab’s release states the EscaPADE spacecraft will launch on a NASA-provided commercial launch vehicle in 2024.
Rocket Lab won a contract from the Space Sciences Laboratory of the University of California Berkeley on 2021-06-15 to begin design work on a new version of the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) mission to Mars.
There are no NASA Mars missions scheduled for launch in 2024, which would require EscaPADE to find another mission with a compatible trajectory or have NASA procure a dedicated launch.