delayed from October 2024<\/a> \u2014 may be critical to scaling future human missions to Mars.<\/p>\nLaunching hundreds of crewed and uncrewed spacecraft to Mars simultaneously in a narrow window just before its opposition isn\u2019t practical. The flexible-trajectory ESCAPADE pioneers could allow unlimited spacecraft to launch over many months, essentially forming a queue at a Lagrange point and beginning their journeys at the same time.<\/p>\n
\u201cCan we launch to Mars when the planets are not aligned? ESCAPADE is paving the way for that,\u201d said Jeffrey Parker of Advanced Space LLC, one of NASA\u2019s partners on ESCAPADE, at a conference earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Martian Space Weather<\/p>\n
Once at Mars, the twin satellites will study how the solar wind interacts with the Martian atmosphere \u2014 critical data for understanding how Mars lost its protective atmosphere and for shielding future astronauts from radiation, particularly during intense solar storms. After all, there\u2019s no thick atmosphere or magnetic field like Earth\u2019s to block them.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will be making the space weather measurements we need to understand the system well enough to forecast solar storms whose radiation could harm astronauts on the surface of Mars or in orbit,\u201d said mission lead Dr. Robert Lillis of UC Berkeley. \u201cIt is definitely going to be a challenge to establish a human settlement on Mars,\u201d he added. \u201cBut, you know, humans are tenacious, right?\u201d <\/p>\n
The ESCAPADE mission also aims to improve long-distance communication by studying Mars\u2019 ionosphere. This layer could be used to bounce radio signals over the horizon \u2014 vital for navigating and surviving on the Martian surface.<\/p>\n
A caravan transports a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket first stage past the Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday, Jan. 10, 2024, in Florida. (Richard Tribou\/Orlando Sentinel\/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)<\/p>\n
TNSBezos\u2019 Rocket Enters The Spotlight<\/p>\n
For Bezos and Blue Origin, this mission marks a significant step forward. Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket, named after astronaut John Glenn, has been in development for over a decade. Standing 321 feet tall and powered by seven BE-4 engines, it\u2019s partially reusable and capable of lifting 45 tons to low-Earth orbit.<\/p>\n
New Glenn will compete directly with Elon Musk\u2019s Starship \u2014 especially as both rockets are central to NASA\u2019s Artemis lunar program.<\/p>\n
Wishing you clear skies and wide eyes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket lifts off at Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station prior…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":122690,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[85937,85939,85942,85940,50173,85944,85941,85936,111,139,69,85938,147,85943],"class_list":{"0":"post-122689","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-science","8":"tag-blue-origin-nasa-launch","9":"tag-escapade-mission","10":"tag-human-mars-missions","11":"tag-jeff-bezos-space","12":"tag-mars-colonization","13":"tag-mars-magnetic-field","14":"tag-mars-trajectory-innovation","15":"tag-new-glenn-rocket","16":"tag-new-zealand","17":"tag-newzealand","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-pioneering-mars-orbit","20":"tag-science","21":"tag-uc-berkeley-space-project"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122689","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=122689"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/122689\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/122690"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=122689"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=122689"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=122689"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"Blue](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/1762508288_553_960x0.jpg\")
<\/p>\n