Blue Origin has confirmed that a pair of EscaPADE probes will be sent into space as part of the second mission of the New Glenn rocket. Their launch is scheduled for late 2025.
The EscaPADE mission consists of a pair of identical probes created by Rocket Lab on behalf of NASA. They are designed to study the magnetosphere and atmosphere of Mars, as well as how they interact with the solar wind. The spacecraft were scheduled to be sent to the Red Planet in October 2024 during the debut launch of the New Glenn rocket. However, due to the unreadiness of the carrier, NASA had to abandon this plan. The decision to cancel was made one day before engineers were scheduled to begin refueling the probes.
The next ballistic window for a flight to Mars will not open until December 2026. However, NASA specialists have developed an alternative plan for launching the spacecraft using more complex trajectories. It consists of initially placing EscaPADE into orbit around the L2 Lagrange point of the Sun-Earth system. The probes will spend a year there observing space weather. After that, they will perform a gravitational maneuver near Earth and head for Mars. They are expected to arrive at the Red Planet in 2027.
On July 17, Blue Origin issued a statement confirming that the EscaPADE mission would go into space as part of the second launch of the New Glenn rocket. It will be accompanied by a technology demonstrator built by Viasat.
The exact launch date for EscaPADE is still unknown. Blue Origin management has announced its intention to carry out eight New Glenn launches in 2025 — however, in reality, the rocket has only flown once so far. The debut launch revealed numerous problems and also damaged the launch pad. Blue Origin specialists are actively working on improving the rocket, causing the date of its next flight to be constantly postponed. It is tentatively scheduled to take place in November 2025.
