Once expected to launch in October 2024, it is part of NASA‘s SIMPLEx program. In August 2024 the spacecraft arrived at the launch site. However, NASA postponed the launch due to schedule and technical issues involved with the mission’s New Glenn launch vehicle, which was set to debut with the launch of these spacecraft. Launch on the New Glenn is now planned for no earlier than November 9, 2025. The science goals of ESCAPADE are to:
understand the processes controlling the structure of Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere and how it guides ion flows
understand how energy and momentum are transported from the solar wind through Mars’ magnetosphere
understand the processes controlling the flow of energy and matter into and out of the collisional atmosphere
There are three science experiments onboard each identical spacecraft: EMAG, EESA, and ELP. EMAG, which was developed by the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, is a magnetometer that will measure DC magnetic fields up to 1000 nT, mounted at the end of the boom to reduce magnetic noise from the spacecraft. EESA is an electrostatic analyzer designed to measure the energies, fluxes, and masses of suprathermal ions from 2 eV to 20 keV and energies and fluxes of suprathermal electrons from 3 eV to 10 keV. It is mounted on the upper deck of the spacecraft bus, with a 240° x 120° field of view for electrons and 247.5° x 90° field of view for ions. ELP, developed by the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is a Langmuir probe consisting of three separate sensors: the multi-needle Langmuir probe (mNLP) consists of 4 thin needles mounted in two pairs ~3/4 way up the boom and measures thermal electron density; the two planar ion probes (PIPs) are mounted on the instrument deck and measure thermal ion density, and the floating potential probe (FPP) is also mounted on the spacecraft deck and measures changes in relative spacecraft electrostatic potential. Once the nominal science orbit is achieved, approximately six months after arriving at Mars, Science Campaign A involves both spacecraft flying in the same orbit at varying distances from one another, ~170 × 8,400 km (5.66 hours) with an inclination of 65 degrees. This will last approximately six months, at which time Blue will lower its apoapsis to 7,000 km and Gold will raise its apoapsis to 10,000 km. With different orbital periods (4.9 and 6.6 hours), the orbits will precess (due to Mars’ nonuniform gravity field) at different rates and thus separate, allowing simultaneous measurements of distant parts of the Mars magnetosphere. This campaign will operate for approximately five months until the end of the nominal science mission less than three years after launch.
Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) is a planned spacecraft mission to Mars consisting of two spacecraft known as Blue and Gold, the mission is led by UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory.
Once expected to launch in October 2024, it is part of NASA‘s SIMPLEx program. In August 2024 the spacecraft arrived at the launch site. However, NASA postponed the launch due to schedule and technical issues involved with the mission’s New Glenn launch vehicle, which was set to debut with the launch of these spacecraft. Launch on the New Glenn is now planned for no earlier than November 9, 2025. The science goals of ESCAPADE are to:
There are three science experiments onboard each identical spacecraft: EMAG, EESA, and ELP. EMAG, which was developed by the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center, is a magnetometer that will measure DC magnetic fields up to 1000 nT, mounted at the end of the boom to reduce magnetic noise from the spacecraft. EESA is an electrostatic analyzer designed to measure the energies, fluxes, and masses of suprathermal ions from 2 eV to 20 keV and energies and fluxes of suprathermal electrons from 3 eV to 10 keV. It is mounted on the upper deck of the spacecraft bus, with a 240° x 120° field of view for electrons and 247.5° x 90° field of view for ions. ELP, developed by the Space and Atmospheric Instrumentation Lab at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, is a Langmuir probe consisting of three separate sensors: the multi-needle Langmuir probe (mNLP) consists of 4 thin needles mounted in two pairs ~3/4 way up the boom and measures thermal electron density; the two planar ion probes (PIPs) are mounted on the instrument deck and measure thermal ion density, and the floating potential probe (FPP) is also mounted on the spacecraft deck and measures changes in relative spacecraft electrostatic potential. Once the nominal science orbit is achieved, approximately six months after arriving at Mars, Science Campaign A involves both spacecraft flying in the same orbit at varying distances from one another, ~170 × 8,400 km (5.66 hours) with an inclination of 65 degrees. This will last approximately six months, at which time Blue will lower its apoapsis to 7,000 km and Gold will raise its apoapsis to 10,000 km. With different orbital periods (4.9 and 6.6 hours), the orbits will precess (due to Mars’ nonuniform gravity field) at different rates and thus separate, allowing simultaneous measurements of distant parts of the Mars magnetosphere. This campaign will operate for approximately five months until the end of the nominal science mission less than three years after launch.
ESCAPADE
Voor het eerst in jaren missie naar Mars, vuurproef voor raket Jeff Bezos
Gegevens