Escapade Heads Towards Mars on New Glenn

Image Credit:  Michael Howard - We Report Space

Cape Canaveral S.F.S., FL.- After a scrub and a delay due to weather on the first launch attempt of November 9, 2025 and an additional delay due to space weather in the form of solar activity, the Blue Origin “New Glenn” rocket roared off the pad at Launch Complex – 36 taking to space the Escapade Mission to Mars. Liftoff came at 3:55 PM EST. on November 13, 2025 to the thrill of thousands along the space coast.

In a statement from Blue Origin: “We achieved full mission success today, and I am so proud of the team,” said Dave Limp, CEO, Blue Origin. “It turns out Never Tell Me The Odds had perfect odds—never before in history has a booster this large nailed the landing on the second try. This is just the beginning as we rapidly scale our flight cadence and continue delivering for our customers.” “Never Tell Me the Odds” was the name of the New Glenn first stage booster that made the historic landing shortly after launch.

Image Credit:  Blue Origin

In a statement from NASA: “Congratulations to Blue Origin, Rocket Lab, UC Berkeley, and all of our partners on the successful launch of ESCAPADE," said the acting NASA Administrator, Secretary Sean Duffy. Continuing: “This heliophysics mission will help reveal how Mars became a desert planet, and how solar eruptions affect the Martian surface.”

Image Credit:  NASA

ESCAPADE, Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) was launched on the New Glenn NG-2, however, this mission was slated on the Blue Origin New Glenn NG-1 mission on its inaugural flight back in October of 2024, but time constraints and rocket readiness prevented that launch from taking place.

Originally, ESCAPADE was scheduled to lift off on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy with the NASA Psyche asteroid payload which lifted off from Launch Complex 39A on 13 October, 2023. However, NASA pulled ESCAPADE from the launch package, as a proper trajectory could not be obtained.

Launch windows to Mars come around approximately every 2 years, so the 2024 window was missed, the next opportunity would occur near or in 2026. All of this has been discovered by using the Hohmann Transfer Orbit which provides the most fuel-efficient & elliptical path for the spacecraft. This pathway exists because Earth and Mars orbit the sun at different speeds and distances. If the window now being pinned closes, the next window will open from October through December, 2026. However, with this mission, Escapade will kind of “hang out” instead and head first to a Lagrange point — a place where the gravitational pull of the sun and Earth are equal waiting for its approach to the red planet in spring of2027.

Image Credit:  Michael Seeley - We Report Space

As part of a statement from press released by Advanced Space L.L.C.: “Can we launch to Mars when the planets are not aligned? ESCAPADE is paving the way for that” said Jeffrey Parker of Advanced Space LLC, one of NASA's partners on ESCAPADE, at a conference earlier this year.

Prior to launch, each satellite underwent a full set of comprehensive tests and inspections on arrival at Kennedy Space Center with the propellants and various gases being loaded for its journey to Mars.

The spacecraft built by Rocket Lab, utilizes an ArianeGroup engine as its main source of power. It is known that the launch window extends through mid-October. If New Glenn launches this fall, the 2 satellites are scheduled to enter into an extended orbit about the Earth before heading on an 11 month journey and start orbiting Mars in 2026 and begin their research.

Comprised of 2 identical “smallsats” code named “Blue” and “Gold” (a nod to U of California, Berkeley team colors) will eventually go into orbit once they arrive at Mars where they will study and measure plasma and magnetic fields around the upper Martian atmosphere as well as the magnetosphere. University of California, Berkeley will also handle the operation of the mission.

Image Credit:  Michael Howard - We Report Space

By studying how the solar winds and Martian atmosphere interact, will provide scientists with a more accurate background on why the solar wind ravages the Martian atmosphere over time to the point that liquid water is not found on the surface. In a statement from the Science Mission Directorate at NASA: “The ESCAPADE mission is part of our strategy to understand Mars’ past and present so we can send the first astronauts there safely,” said Nicky Fox, associate administrator, Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Understanding Martian space weather is a top priority for future missions because it helps us protect systems, robots, and most importantly, humans, in extreme environments.”