ESCAPADE twins leave Earth on their journey to Mars
NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft are travelling towards Mars after completing powered close approaches to Earth on 7 and 9 November. Their engines and Earth’s gravity supplied the departure boost following a year on a waiting trajectory. Arrival is planned for September 2027, ahead of coordinated observations of how the solar wind interacts with the Martian atmosphere.
Science··Night
Two departures, two days apart
The second of NASA’s ESCAPADE probes completed its powered passage around Earth on 9 November, joining its twin on a trajectory towards Mars. The first had made the manoeuvre on 7 November. NASA, the United States space agency, reported that each spacecraft combined a close gravitational encounter with engine thrust. ESCAPADE stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers; its two vehicles are intended to investigate the Martian environment together.[1]
A waiting orbit supplied the route back
Their departure follows an unusual detour. After launch from Florida in November 2025, the probes remained near Earth on a looping route extending around the Earth–Sun second Lagrange point, a gravitational balance location beyond Earth as seen from the Sun. They returned when the planets were better placed for a Mars transfer. Mission designer Jeff Parker described this arrangement as a way to loosen the launch-calendar constraints of a direct journey.[1]
Mars observations are planned from two positions
NASA plans orbital arrivals in September 2027 and science operations from June 2028. The probes are intended first to follow the same orbit, then to separate so one measures the approaching solar wind while the other examines conditions nearer Mars. The solar wind is the stream of charged material leaving the Sun. Comparing those measurements should help investigate its role in atmospheric loss. During their waiting phase, the spacecraft already observed Earth’s stretched-out magnetic tail.[1]
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