ESCAPADE Is Led by UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory

Rocket Lab shares that it will begin manufacture and design to supply two interplanetary Photon spacecraft for a science mission to Mars. NASA has given the greenlight to launch the mission, planned for 2024.

The mission will support crewed exploration programs like Artemis through solar storm prediction, and will orbit two Rocket Lab-built Photon spacecraft around Mars. Another objective of the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers mission will be to explore the dynamics of Mars’ one of a kind magnetosphere.

Principal Investigator Robert Lillis at the University of California, Berkeley, will lead the mission. NASA’s Science Mission Directorate’s Heliophysics Division will manage the ESCAPADE mission, making it the first Heliophysics mission to venture to another planet.

After launch, the Photon spacecraft will take 11 months to cruise before entering the elliptical orbits around Mars, which will begin the science phase of the mission.

Both Photons incorporate satellite subsystems developed and manufactured by Rocket Lab, which includes star trackers, reaction wheels, ranging transceivers for deep space navigation, and in-space propulsion systems. 

Rocket Lab’s founder and CEO, Peter Beck, says “ESCAPADE is an innovative mission that demonstrates that advanced interplanetary science is now within reach for a fraction of traditional costs, and we’re proud to make it possible with Photon,” he said. “Passing the Key Decision Point is a critical milestone in ESCAPADE’s development and is testament to the world-class science and engineering work of the UC Berkeley and Rocket Lab teams. We are delighted to receive the green light from NASA to proceed to flight.”

FMI: www.rocketlabusa.com/about-us/updates