Written by Amira Shehata
Monday, February 13, 2023 04:00 AM
NASA has given Blue Origin a mission command to launch the Mars Mission known as ESCAPADE, in which a Blue Origin rocket will reach Mars from low Earth orbit, launching the agency’s dual spacecraft in late 2024.
According to Space, the mission will launch aboard Blue Origin’s next New Glenn rocket, assuming the booster is ready in time, and will bring the company beyond the subtropical realms where it is now flying.
The ESCAPADE program will also study the magnetosphere, the magnetic region of the Red Planet’s atmosphere, with two Rocket Lab-designed spacecraft.
Two spacecraft orbiting Mars will look at how the solar wind is tearing apart the atmosphere over time, greatly weakening it.
The mission’s findings could allow scientists to learn more about how the planet has dried out over time, as billions of years ago it appears that Martian water flowed abundantly to the surface.
Blue Origin launches people and payloads alike with a smaller suborbital rocket called the New Shepard. The booster suffered an unfamiliar anomaly during launch on Sept. 12, 2022, halting all launches. Blue has provided no details of the investigation in the five months that have passed. Since the problem occurred.
While the new missile is expected to reach a height of 313 feet (95 meters), five times the height of New Shepherd’s 59 feet (18 meters).