Science & Tech · Space · 50 mins ago
NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft head to Mars after Earth flybys
NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft are now on course for Mars after flying past Earth.
The spacecraft, named Blue and Gold, made their flybys two days apart in November, firing their engines to gain speed.
It was the first time NASA used a powered Earth flyby to send a spacecraft toward Mars.
The mission used a flexible route that let it launch outside the usual Mars launch windows, rather than wait for a direct journey opportunity that comes about every two years.
The spacecraft are expected to reach Mars in September 2027, where they will burn their engines to enter orbit.
They will study how the solar wind interacts with Mars’s magnetic environment and atmosphere, helping scientists examine the planet’s space weather.
Their paired observations will track changes in space weather over time, before the spacecraft move into separate orbits to study different parts of the process.
NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft are headed to Mars after separate powered flybys of Earth.
Gold flew by Earth on Nov. 9, about 48 hours after Blue completed a similar maneuver.
The spacecraft used their engines during the flybys, the first time NASA has used a powered Earth flyby to propel a spacecraft toward Mars.
They are expected to arrive at Mars in September 2027, two days apart.
The mission will study how the solar wind interacts with Mars’s magnetosphere and atmosphere.
- Who
- NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft, nicknamed Blue and Gold.
- What
- They completed powered Earth flybys and are now on trajectories to Mars.
- When
- Blue flew by Earth a little more than 48 hours before Gold, which flew by at about 6 a.m. Eastern on Nov. 9. They are expected to arrive at Mars in September 2027.
- Where
- The spacecraft flew by Earth and are headed to Mars.
- Why
- To study how the solar wind interacts with Mars’s magnetosphere and atmosphere.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
ESCAPADE launched on the second flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn.
The spacecraft had spent nearly a year around the Earth-sun L-2 Lagrange point before making their Earth flybys.
Blue flew by Earth a little more than 48 hours before Gold, which passed about 1,050 kilometers from Earth at about 6 a.m. Eastern.
The spacecraft are expected to arrive at Mars two days apart.
- Spacecraft
- Blue and Gold
- Gold’s Earth flyby
- About 1,050 kilometers from Earth
- Blue’s Earth flyby
- About 1,600 kilometers altitude
- Mars arrival
- September 2027, two days apart
- Science goal
- Study the solar wind’s interaction with Mars’s magnetosphere and atmosphere
What people are saying
This is the first time NASA has used a powered Earth flyby to propel a spacecraft toward Mars, and we’ve now executed this maneuver twice, flawlessly, in just two days
I’m happy to report that they went well. They were executed perfectly.