New Glenn's second mission carries NASA's ESCAPADE.
ESCAPADE was developed as part of NASA's SIMPLEx program, which aims to reduce planetary exploration costs.
ESCAPADE's satellites will orbit Mars and observe plasma and magnetic fields to understand atmospheric loss.
The ESCAPADE mission will study Mars’ magnetosphere.
ESCAPADE is expected to arrive at Mars in 2027.
Inspections will be closed out as the next step for the ESCAPADE mission.
New Glenn is preparing for the upcoming launch of the ESCAPADE Mission to Mars.
Rob Lillis is the Principal Investigator for the ESCAPADE mission and is associated with the Space Science Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley.
Each of the ESCAPADE satellites, Blue and Gold, weighs 524 kg, while the payload instruments weigh around 8 kg, with propellants accounting for 70% of the weight.
The ESCAPADE mission is supported by NASA.
ESCAPADE will utilize a unique trajectory, spending approximately 12 months in the L2 Lagrange Point before swing-bying Earth in November 2026.
NASA's ESCAPADE mission includes two satellites named Blue and Gold.
The New Glenn rocket's second launch, designated NG-2, will send NASA's ESCAPADE twin spacecraft to Mars.
The ESCAPADE twin spacecraft are integrated with New Glenn.
The cost to launch the ESCAPADE spacecraft in 2024 is estimated at $49 million.
ESCAPADE's mission plan allows for potential future launches to Mars even when the planets are not aligned.
The science instruments, deployable booms, and data processing computers for ESCAPADE were built by UC Berkeley and its partners.
ESCAPADE will pioneer a new trajectory to Mars that allows for a more flexible launch schedule.
The NASA ESCAPADE mission will be carried into space by a New Glenn rocket built by Blue Origin, headquartered in Kent, Washington.
ESCAPADE will first travel to a Lagrange point and loop around it in a kidney bean-shaped orbit, returning to Earth in early November 2026.