ESCAPADE: NASA's twin orbiters bound for Mars

What is ESCAPADE?

ESCAPADE is a NASA mission of two identical spacecraft that will orbit Mars together. NASA says they will “investigate how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape,” measuring Mars’s upper atmosphere and magnetic surroundings between about 160 and 10,000 km (100 and 6,200 mi) up.[1] The name stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers.[2]

NASA’s MAVEN orbiter found that Mars lost most of its early air to space, turning a planet that may once have supported life into a cold desert;[19] the weather page explains why the air is so thin. With two spacecraft, ESCAPADE can measure the solar wind and Mars’s upper atmosphere at the same time, which NASA lists as a first.[6] The pair are nicknamed Blue and Gold, after UC Berkeley’s school colors.[12]

Where is ESCAPADE now?

Near Earth, waiting for November. Since launch, the two spacecraft have been looping around the Sun–Earth L2 point in a “loiter” orbit, about a million miles (1.6 million km) from Earth, NASA says.[10][6]

1. Nov 13, 2025Launch on Blue Origin’s New Glenn, its second flight, from Cape Canaveral; NASA was in contact with both spacecraft that night.[2][3]
2. Nov 21, 2025First pictures from the spacecraft’s own cameras.[18]
3. December 2025One spacecraft’s engine gives less thrust than planned during a course correction; it completes the maneuver on Jan 6, 2026, and NASA said there were no long-term impacts.[9][8]
4. Feb 25, 2026NASA says all the science instruments are working.[7]
5. Mar 4, 2026A 10-day pass through Earth’s distant magnetic tail, a region no spacecraft had explored, UC Berkeley says.[13]
6. Jul 3, 2026One spacecraft photographs Earth and the Moon from 584,600 km (363,250 mi) away.[10]
7. November 2026Earth flyby and engine burns that send both spacecraft to Mars.[8][10]
8. September 2027Arrival at Mars.[2]
9. June 2028Science begins.[2]

When does ESCAPADE leave for Mars?

In November 2026, NASA says. The twin spacecraft will fly by Earth and use its gravity to slingshot toward Mars,[8] firing their engines close to Earth, where a burn does the most good.[4] UC Berkeley’s mission timeline puts the two burns on Nov 7 for Blue and Nov 9 for Gold; NASA hasn’t announced exact dates.[11][16] The burns have to work the first time. “If the engines fail to light, we would miss the interplanetary transfer window and have to wait two more years for a chance to get to Mars,” principal investigator Rob Lillis told Space.com.[16]

The cruise then takes about 10 months.[2] That is in the usual range: our travel-time page lists every Mars trip so far.

Why did ESCAPADE launch a year early?

Because its rocket was ready before Mars was. ESCAPADE was first set to fly in October 2024 on New Glenn’s first flight. NASA stood down in September 2024, to avoid “significant cost, schedule, and technical challenges” if the launch slipped after the spacecraft were fueled.[14] SpaceNews reported that NASA was concerned the rocket might not be ready in time.[15]

The mission launched in November 2025 instead, when Earth and Mars were not lined up for a trip. Rather than wait on the ground, the spacecraft wait in space for the late-2026 window. NASA lists this as a first: a Mars mission launched when the two planets were not aligned, on an orbit that loops around L2 before heading to Mars.[6][4]

What will ESCAPADE do at Mars?

Measure Mars’s magnetic environment from two places at once. The spacecraft are planned to arrive two days apart in September 2027, each firing its engine for about 11 minutes to be captured into a long, 60-hour orbit, then lower their orbits step by step.[5] NASA calls ESCAPADE the first coordinated multi-spacecraft orbital science mission to Mars.[3]

Science is planned from June 2028 to May 2029, in two campaigns:[2][5]

• A“String of pearls”, about six months. Both spacecraft fly nearly the same orbit, 160 by 8,400 km, one chasing the other, so they can see how the same regions change over 2 to 30 minutes.[5][1]
• BTwo different orbits, about five months. One spacecraft flies 160 by 7,000 km and the other 160 by 10,000 km, so they sample different regions at the same time.[5]

Who built ESCAPADE?

• 01UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory leads the mission; Rob Lillis is the principal investigator. NASA Goddard’s Explorers Office manages the program.[3][6]
• 02Rocket Lab designed, built and tested the two spacecraft in Long Beach, California. Each weighs 535 kg (1,179 lb) fueled.[3][1]
• 03Four instruments on each spacecraft: an electrostatic analyzer from UC Berkeley, a magnetometer from NASA Goddard on a 2-meter boom, a Langmuir probe from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, and visible and infrared cameras from Northern Arizona University.[1][5]
• 04Blue Origin launched it on New Glenn. NASA chose ESCAPADE for its SIMPLEx program of small planetary missions; it is funded by NASA’s heliophysics division. UC Berkeley puts the mission’s cost at under $80 million.[2][3][17]

Sources

1. NASA Science — ESCAPADEPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
2. NASA — NASA, Blue Origin Launch Two Spacecraft to Study Mars, Solar WindPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
3. NASA Science (ESCAPADE blog) — Mission Facts About ESCAPADEPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
4. NASA Science (ESCAPADE blog) — NASA's Twin ESCAPADE Spacecraft Have DeployedPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
5. NASA — ESCAPADE Press KitPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
6. NASA — ESCAPADE Fact SheetPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
7. NASA Science — NASA's ESCAPADE Ready to Study Space Weather from Earth to MarsPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
8. NASA Science (ESCAPADE blog) — NASA's Second ESCAPADE Spacecraft Completes Trajectory ManeuverPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
9. NASA Science (ESCAPADE blog) — NASA's ESCAPADE Trajectory Correction Maneuver DelayedPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
10. NASA Science — NASA's ESCAPADE Snaps Family Portrait of Earth, MoonPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
11. UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory — Mission DesignPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
12. UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory — NASA's ESCAPADE mission to Mars — twin UC Berkeley satellites dubbed Blue and Gold — launched todayPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
13. UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory — ESCAPADE spacecraft are now flying through Earth's magnetotailPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
14. NASA Science (ESCAPADE blog) — NASA Stands Down from October Launch for ESCAPADE to MarsPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
15. SpaceNews — NASA removes ESCAPADE from inaugural New Glenn launchSecondary · checked Oct 4, 2026
16. Space.com — Live long and loiter: Why NASA's ESCAPADE probes will wait a year in space before heading to MarsSecondary · checked Oct 4, 2026
17. UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory — About ESCAPADEPrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026
18. NASA Science (ESCAPADE blog) — NASA's Mars-bound ESCAPADE Mission Captures First 'Selfies'Primary · checked Oct 4, 2026
19. NASA — NASA's MAVEN Reveals Most of Mars' Atmosphere Was Lost to SpacePrimary · checked Oct 4, 2026