NASA's ESCAPADE Twin Probes Launch on New Glenn to Map Martian Atmospheric Escape

NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission successfully began its journey to Mars on Thursday, November 13, 2025. The launch originated from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, lifting off at 3:55 p.m. EST aboard Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket. This event represents a significant operational milestone for the commercial provider, marking its inaugural delivery of a major science payload for NASA. The launch also included the first successful sea landing of the New Glenn booster on the Jacklyn barge, positioned approximately 375 miles offshore.

The ESCAPADE mission deploys twin spacecraft, named Blue and Gold, which are tasked with investigating the dynamic interaction between the solar wind and the Martian magnetic environment. This research is fundamental to clarifying the planet's climate history, specifically addressing how the solar wind—a continuous stream of particles moving at a million miles per hour—gradually eroded much of Mars' atmosphere over billions of years. The mission is managed by the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, with Rob Lillis serving as the Principal Investigator. Key partners supporting the endeavor include Rocket Lab, which constructed the identical Photon spacecraft, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and Advanced Space LLC.

The mission design establishes the first coordinated dual-spacecraft orbital science mission around another planet. The twin orbiters will initially enter a "string-of-pearls" formation, following each other in close temporal succession—with separations as short as two minutes—to capture stereo views of space weather variations, a capability previous single-point missions could not achieve. The primary science campaign is scheduled to commence in June 2028, following an initial six-month phase in this close formation. The spacecraft, each weighing around 1,180 pounds when fully fueled, are designed to map the ionosphere, providing critical data relevant to safeguarding future human exploration by understanding its effect on radio communications.

The trajectory employed by ESCAPADE is innovative, moving beyond the traditional launch windows tied to planetary alignment. Instead of a direct path, the spacecraft will first travel to a staging orbit near the Earth-Sun Lagrange point 2, where they will loiter for approximately one year. In November 2026, the probes will execute a gravity assist maneuver around Earth to slingshot toward Mars, with arrival anticipated in September 2027 after the 10-month cruise phase. This novel trajectory, necessary after previous launch delays, is intended to establish a more flexible pathway for subsequent high-capability scientific missions.

The ESCAPADE initiative is funded through NASA's Heliophysics Division under the Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program, emphasizing a lower-cost approach to planetary science compared to more traditional, multi-billion-dollar endeavors. Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy stated that this mission will provide essential data for protecting future NASA explorers as the agency pursues its vision for human presence on Mars. The successful launch and subsequent deployment of the Blue and Gold probes mark a substantial step in understanding the Martian environment ahead of potential crewed landings.