Escapade

Mission To Mars

Spacecraft

Two Rocket Lab Explorer Spacecraft

Mission Partners

UC Berkeley (Principal Investigator) and NASA (ESCAPADE is part of the NASA Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program.)

Made In

Rocket Lab HQ, Long Beach, CA

Launching

Late 2024

Mission Duration

11 Months in Mars orbit

Mission

Investigate Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere

Mission Overview

NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission will measure plasma and magnetic fields around the red planet, helping scientists learn more about the processes that strip away atoms from Mars’ magnetosphere and upper atmosphere, driving Martian climate change.

Rocket Lab has designed and built twin spacecraft, called Blue and Gold, to enable the mission.

The mission will leverage its unique dual viewpoint on the Mars environment to explore how the solar wind strips atmosphere away from Mars to better understand how its climate has changed over time – so much that Mars no longer supports liquid water on its surface. The pair will be the first multi-spacecraft science mission to Mars.

Built and tested at Rocket Lab’s Space Systems facility in Long Beach, CA, Blue and Gold’s design was based on Rocket Lab’s Explorer spacecraft, a configurable, high delta-V interplanetary platform.

The spacecraft are vertically integrated using Rocket Lab’s reliable, flight proven satellite subsystems and components such as: Solar panels, star trackers, propulsion tanks, reaction wheels, reaction control systems, radios, separation systems, multi-layer insulation, battery packs, thermal control system, composite structures and flight computers.

Vertically Integrated

Rocket Lab Subsystems and Components on ESCAPADE

Solar Panels
developed in
Albuquerque, NM

Star Trackers
developed in
Toronto, Canada

Satellite Radios
developed in
Long Beach, CA

Reaction Wheels
developed in
Toronto, Canada

Propulsion Tanks
developed in
Long Beach, CA.

Reaction Control
Systems developed in
Auckland, NZ

Mission Duration

Launch

Late 2024

Cruise

11 Months

Science Mission

11 Months

Total

29 Months

The Road To Mars

November 2020

Rocket Lab selected to build ESCAPADE spacecraft

Rocket Lab was selected by the University of California-Berkeley to design and build its two identical spacecraft for the ESCAPADE mission.

October 2022

Rocket Lab Spacecraft Design Approved

UCB and Rocket Lab pass NASA’s critical design review.

August 2023

Structural Qualification Complete

Rocket Lab builds a full copy of the spacecraft to make sure our design can survive the punishing environment of launch into space!

October 2023

UCB Science Instrument Suite Spacecraft Integration

UCB’s science instrument suite was delivered and mounted on the Blue & Gold Spacecraft at Rocket Lab’s Headquarters in Long Beach, CA.

November 2023

Pre-Environmental Testing Review

Rocket Lab conducts a pre-environmental testing review to ensure configuration of the system and ensure that all unit- level, subsystem, and system tests have been complete before the spacecraft undergo environmental testing (simulation of conditions the spacecraft will face on their way to space).

February 2024

Propulsion System Integrations

Rocket Lab engineers and technicians integrated the spacecraft propulsion systems – engines the spacecraft will use to be captured by Mars’ gravity and to synchronize its orbits.

April 2024

Spacecraft ‘Blue’ Completes Vibe Testing

ESCAPADE spacecraft ‘Blue’ completed vibration testing at Rocket Lab, Long Beach CA. Ready for TVAC!

May 2024

‘Blue’ and ‘Gold’ Hitting Milestones

Spacecraft ‘Blue’ completed a successful thermal vacuum test campaign. While spacecraft ‘Gold’ has completed pre-environments testing and moved onto vibration testing.

June 2024

‘Gold’ TVAC Completes Testing

Spacecraft Gold completes its environmental testing!

July 2024

Duo ESCAPADE Spacecraft Complete Environmental Testing

Rocket Lab completes environmental testing for both ESCAPADE spacecraft.