BUSAN, South Korea – A NASA mission to Mars is scheduled to launch this fall, but no specific launch date has been set.
In a presentation at the 45th Scientific Assembly of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) on July 15, Rob Lillis of the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, said the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission is still scheduled to launch within months on the maiden flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket.
ESCAPADE consists of two identical small satellites called Blue and Gold that will be placed in orbit around Mars. The spacecraft carry instruments to study the planet’s magnetosphere and its interaction with the solar wind.
The spacecraft, built by Rocket Lab, are almost ready for launch. The Blue spacecraft has completed environmental testing, while Gold is undergoing final vibration tests. „It was really exciting to see these two probes finally come together after we’ve been working on it for so many years,“ he said.
The launch of ESCAPADE has arguably attracted more attention than the mission itself. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch on its first flight from New Glenn under a $20 million NASA contract awarded in February 2023.
However, the mission’s exact launch date remains unclear. At a COSPAR planetary protection committee meeting in April, a NASA official announced September 29 as the launch date for ESCAPADE. The ESCAPADE website also mentions a September 29 launch, but adds that this is only a „placeholder“ date.
Lillis said only that the mission is planned to launch this fall, adding that a September launch date listed on a slide was „outdated.“ The launch window for Mars missions of any kind this year extends to roughly mid-October.
„We don’t know yet,“ he said later when discussing the exact launch date of the mission, adding that he is working closely with Blue Origin on launch preparations.
When ESCAPADE launches this fall, the spacecraft will reach Mars within 48 hours in September 2025 and begin its year-long primary science mission in April 2026. Lillis said he hopes the spacecraft can work in conjunction with several other Mars orbiters from NASA and other agencies to usher in a „golden era“ of exploration of the Martian magnetosphere.
ESCAPADE is also a test of the ability of small, low-cost spacecraft to conduct science missions beyond Earth. NASA selected ESCAPADE in 2019 as part of its SIMPLEx series of planetary science small satellite missions, along with Janus and Lunar Trailblazer. However, Janus was put on hold after delays to its launch, as a rideshare payload from the Psyche mission prevented it from reaching its planned asteroid flyby targets. Lunar Trailblazer is now scheduled to launch later this year as a rideshare payload on the second Intuitive Machines lander.
„It’s very much an experiment by NASA to reduce the cost of planetary missions. Can you do a mission for about a tenth of the cost that NASA would have spent, and what are the risks involved?“ he asked. „NASA is very interested in the answer to that question.“