NASA’s ESCAPADE Mission to Launch Twin Satellites to Mars

NASA is set to launch its first dual-satellite mission to Mars, named ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers), with a targeted launch date of November 9, 2025. The mission will send two identical satellites, informally called Blue and Gold, from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Managed by the University of California, Berkeley, these spacecraft will work in formation to create a three-dimensional map of Mars’ magnetic fields, upper atmosphere, and ionosphere, providing unprecedented insights into the planet’s near-space environment.

This pioneering mission aims to unveil crucial information about how Mars lost its atmosphere, which could significantly influence future human exploration and settlement on the planet. According to Robert Lillis, principal investigator at UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory (SSL), understanding the ionosphere’s variations is vital for correcting distortions in radio signals necessary for communication and navigation on Mars.

Scheduled to arrive at Mars in 2027, the satellites were developed with instruments and technology built by UC Berkeley and its partners. The spacecraft were constructed by Rocket Lab U.S., and the launch will occur aboard a New Glenn rocket manufactured by Blue Origin, based in Kent, Washington.

Mapping Mars’ magnetic fields is essential because the planet lacks a global magnetic field similar to Earth’s and has a thin atmosphere that fails to protect its surface from solar storms. Lillis noted that astronauts on Mars will need to safeguard themselves against high-energy particle radiation that can damage DNA and increase cancer risk. NASA’s Curiosity rover recently documented a solar storm that released radiation equivalent to 100 days of normal background exposure in just one day.

The ESCAPADE mission will also explore a new trajectory to Mars, diverging from traditional launch windows that only occur every 26 months when Earth and Mars are optimally aligned. Instead, ESCAPADE will first travel to a Lagrange point, where the gravitational forces of the sun and Earth are balanced, before looping back towards Earth in November 2026. This innovative path will allow for more flexible launch opportunities, accommodating numerous crewed and uncrewed missions to Mars.

Historically, missions to Mars have relied on a Hohmann Transfer trajectory, limiting launch windows and leading to congestion at launch facilities. Lillis emphasized that ESCAPADE’s approach could enable spacecraft to queue up for launch over several months, rather than being constrained to a narrow time frame. Jeffrey Parker from Advanced Space LLC stated, “Can we launch to Mars when the planets are not aligned? ESCAPADE is paving the way for that.”

The scientific objectives of ESCAPADE are rooted in nearly 60 years of research conducted by UC Berkeley. The university has previously contributed instruments to various Mars missions, including the Mars Global Surveyor, which launched in 1996, and current missions like NASA’s MAVEN and the Emirates Mars Mission Hope probe. These efforts have demonstrated that Mars, while lacking a global magnetic field, possesses localized magnetic fields created by its strongly magnetized crust.

Through its two probes, ESCAPADE will provide a stereoscopic view of how the Martian atmosphere responds to solar wind, which consists of charged particles emitted by the sun. This understanding is crucial for unraveling the historical climate evolution of Mars and determining the fate of water that once flowed on its surface. Shaoxui Xu, deputy principal investigator, noted, “To understand how the solar wind drives different kinds of atmospheric escape is a key piece of the puzzle of the climate evolution of Mars.”

The mission’s innovative design marks a shift in how space exploration is conducted, with a focus on cost-effectiveness and commercial partnerships. The total cost to deliver the spacecraft to the launchpad is estimated at $49 million, a fraction of what similar missions would have cost a decade ago. Lillis remarked, “ESCAPADE represents a new way of doing things, with much lower cost, more commercial involvement, and a somewhat higher risk tolerance.”

Once the satellites reach Mars, they will take approximately seven months to adjust into synchronized lower orbits, enabling them to collect data on timescales as short as two minutes. This capability is expected to yield insights into dynamic processes that previous missions could only observe after several hours.

Instruments aboard the satellites include electrostatic analyzers that will measure the flux and energies of particles escaping Mars. These measurements will help scientists understand the direction and energy of particles, revealing whether they are returning to the Martian surface or escaping into space.

Despite the excitement surrounding Mars exploration, Lillis acknowledges the challenges that human settlers will face on the planet. With an atmosphere that is extremely thin, humans would require pressure suits to survive, and many activities may need to be conducted underground to mitigate exposure to cosmic radiation. “It is definitely going to be a challenge to establish a human settlement on Mars,” Lillis said, but he remains optimistic about human resilience in facing these difficulties.

As NASA prepares for the launch of ESCAPADE, the mission promises to enhance our understanding of Mars and pave the way for future exploration, expanding the possibilities for human habitation beyond Earth.