NASA’s ESCAPADE mission moves towards launch as it passes key design review

ESCAPADE consists of two identical interplanetary Photon spacecraft, about the size of a mini-fridge, developed by Rocket Lab. The twin spacecraft will spend 11 months in interplanetary space before entering a highly elliptical orbit around Mars. They will spend six months gradually descending into the same nominal science orbit like pearls on a string, passing within 100 miles of the Martian (Mars) surface at the closest approach.

NASA's ESCAPADE mission (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) has passed a key design review and has moved into its next phase with a new target launch readiness date of October 2024, the U.S. space agency said on Friday.

In a blog post, NASA said that the review, Key Decision Point C, evaluated the mission's preliminary design and project plan to achieve launch by its target launch readiness date. The next phase i.e. Phase C includes the final design of the mission and building of the instruments.

A new Mars mission is moving toward launch! 🚀This week, NASA’s ESCAPADE mission — short for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers — passed a key design review. The @UCBerkeley-led team can now start assembling the spacecraft. More: https://t.co/n7vZnhyq6s pic.twitter.com/ZE9wZgJieW

— NASA Sun & Space (@NASASun) August 20, 2021

ESCAPADE consists of two identical interplanetary Photon spacecraft, about the size of a mini-fridge, developed by Rocket Lab. The twin spacecraft will spend 11 months in interplanetary space before entering a highly elliptical orbit around Mars. They will spend six months gradually descending into the same nominal science orbit like pearls on a string, passing within 100 miles of the Martian (Mars) surface at the closest approach.

Led by the University of California, Berkeley, the ESCAPADE mission will study how the planet's magnetosphere - the magnetized area of space around the planet - interacts with the solar wind, and the processes driving its atmospheric escape. The mission will launch no earlier than January 2024.

Commenting on this development, Rob Lillis, space physicist at UC Berkeley and principal investigator for ESCAPADE, said, "We are thrilled to pass this critical milestone, the culmination of two years of science and engineering work from a talented and dedicated team at UC Berkeley and our partners. We're very excited to now move towards final designs, assembly, test, launch and get on our way to Mars."