Prelims: Current events of national and international importance | Space
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Blue Origin's huge New Glenn rocket launches a NASA 'ESCAPADE' mission recently.
The ESCAPADE mission (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) is a pair of NASA twin spacecraft sent to orbit Mars and study how the solar wind strips away the planet's atmosphere.
Launched on -November 13, 2025, aboard a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket.
It’s part of NASA’s SIMPLEx (Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration) program.
Trajectory (“Loiter” Strategy) -Instead of direct transfer, ESCAPADE will first go to a “loiter” orbit around Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2 (L2), ~1.5 million km from Earth.
Once Mars and Earth align suitably (in 2026), the spacecraft will use Earth gravity assist (slingshot) to head to Mars.
Mars Arrival & Science Orbits -Expected to arrive at Mars in September 2027.
Initially, they’ll go into a “capture” orbit, then adjust to two different science orbits
String-of-pearls orbit - Both spacecraft in the same orbit, one trailing the other.
Divergent orbit phase - After ~6 months, they will shift so one is closer to Mars, one is farther.
Mission Life -The science mission is planned for 11 months.
Mission Objectives / Science Goals
Study Mars’ “Hybrid” Magnetosphere
Mars doesn’t have a global dipole magnetic field like Earth. Instead, it has patchy crustal magnetic fields plus induced magnetic effects from solar wind.
ESCAPADE aims to understand how this “hybrid” magnetosphere works, how it responds to solar wind, and how particles move in & out of Mars’ magnetic environment.
Quantify Atmospheric Escape
Over time, Mars has lost much of its atmosphere. ESCAPADE will look at how the solar wind strips ions and energy from the upper atmosphere.
By observing these processes, scientists hope to better understand how Mars’ climate evolved, including how it became the cold, thin-air planet we see today.
