The task order directs Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin to supply launch services for NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or ESCAPADE, as part of the space agency’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare program, better known as VADR.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, which is still in development, would be charged with carrying two robotic probes into space from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida by late 2024.
The twin ESCAPADE spacecraft will investigate how Mars’ weak magnetosphere interacts with the solar wind, as well as how energy and plasma enter and exit the magnetosphere. The voyage to Mars would last around 11 months, followed by several months of orbital corrections in preparation for the science mission.
Learning about Mars’ magnetosphere might bring fresh insights into space weather, tactics for safeguarding humans from space storms, and maybe the evolution of the Red Planet’s atmosphere. According to scientists, Mars lost much of its atmosphere and became less friendly to life due to a lack of a robust magnetosphere to protect it from the solar wind’s stripping effect.
The project is being led by the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley, on behalf of NASA. Rocket Lab USA will design and manufacture two Photon spacecraft, each roughly the size of a mini-fridge, for ESCAPADE.
“ESCAPADE follows a long tradition of NASA Mars science and exploration missions, and we’re thrilled NASA’s Launch Services Program has selected New Glenn to launch the instruments that will study Mars’ magnetosphere,” Jarrett Jones, Blue Origin’s senior vice president for the New Glenn program, said in a news release.
NASA is spending $300 million over five years for contracts with VADR-approved launch providers. Blue Origin is one of 13 suppliers on the list.
Blue Origin’s orbital-class New Glenn rocket is being developed and tested at its facilities on Florida’s Space Coast. Its debut has been postponed multiple times, but the initial rollout is scheduled this year. Blue Origin has accumulated a backlog of New Glenn launch commitments over the course of six years.
