Amidst the US government shutdown, NASA is quietly preparing for a unique journey to Mars. Two spacecraft, named Blue and Gold after UC Berkeley’s colors, are set to launch on November 9th aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. This mission, dubbed Escapade (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers), marks a departure from traditional Mars exploration by opting for an unconventional travel route and embracing a lean budget approach.
Instead of the usual fuel-efficient trajectory used in past missions—a narrow launch window every two years that aligns with planetary positions—Escapade will first swing around a stable point between Earth and the sun, effectively “loitering” for a year before returning towards Earth and finally heading toward Mars. This detour was necessitated by earlier launch postponements but could prove highly valuable for future human missions requiring multiple spacecraft launches spread over several months rather than a compressed few weeks.
Unlocking Martian Mysteries: A Cheaper Way to Explore
The $80 million mission, significantly smaller in budget compared to NASA’s typical planetary endeavors, aims to shed light on the dramatic changes Mars has undergone over billions of years. Scientists believe that Mars once boasted a thicker atmosphere, potentially capable of supporting life. Now, it is a desolate desert with a drastically thinned atmosphere—a mystery scientists are eager to solve.
Escapade will tackle this conundrum by meticulously mapping Mars’ magnetic fields, upper atmosphere, and ionosphere—the charged particle layer surrounding the planet. This “stereo view” created by the twin spacecraft, separated by only minutes in their orbits, will allow researchers to observe the real-time impacts of solar storms on the Martian environment.
Currently, single spacecraft missions lack this crucial capability due to the rapid nature of these disturbances:
“It only takes one or two minutes for one of these space weather disturbances to propagate through the system and, for example, tear out a whole bunch of atmosphere,” explained mission principal investigator Rob Lillis. “Single spacecraft missions cannot separately measure the cause and the effect.”
Understanding how solar radiation strips away Martian atmospheric particles is vital not only for deciphering Mars’ history but also for protecting future human explorers. Without Earth-like global magnetic shielding, Mars is vulnerable to harmful bursts of energetic particles from solar storms. Accurate models of the ionosphere generated by Escapade will further assist engineers in developing robust navigation and communication systems for missions involving humans on Mars.
A New Era of Space Exploration?
Escapade represents a significant shift in NASA’s approach to interplanetary exploration. The mission was built by Rocket Lab, a commercial space company, at a remarkably low cost of $57 million—a stark contrast to the billions traditionally spent on complex planetary missions. This accomplishment highlights the potential for more affordable and efficient space travel as collaboration between NASA and the private sector flourishes.
“Rocket Lab undertook a task that, to be honest, I’m not going to name names, but at least one of those prime contractors said, ‘We’re not interested in this because if you need to fit everything into a $57 million cost cap, we can’t build you two spacecraft for the price you’d be willing to pay us,'” revealed Lillis. “Actually, two said that.”
The twin spacecraft will complete their 22-month journey to Mars and spend nine more months adjusting their orbits before starting their primary science mission in June 2028. Escapade not only promises groundbreaking discoveries about the Red Planet but also serves as a promising model for future cost-effective space exploration.
