Blue Origin is gearing up for the second-ever launch of its highly effective New Glenn rocket, which can loft NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars.
The firm says it has been working intently with NASA on preparations main as much as New Glenn’s subsequent launch, dubbed NG-2, and is focusing on no sooner than (NET) Sep. 29. The twin ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) probes have been awaiting their flip aboard New Glenn, which was initially slated to hold the satellites on its maiden launch in January. However, NASA opted to not danger a expensive mission delay as a result of debut liftoff of the brand new rocket.
Now that the mission has been assigned a NET date, Blue Origin posted on social media to anticipate “some exciting things” buzzing round New Glenn’s pad at Space Launch Complex-36, situated at Cape Canaveral Space Force Base in Florida.
New Glenn lifted off for the first time in the beginning of 2025. Blue Origin successfully launched a test version of its Blue Ring satellite bus to Earth orbit, but failed in the attempt to land New Glenn’s first stage at sea. In addition to launching its NASA payload into an interplanetary trajectory, Blue Origin will once again try to land and recover New Glenn’s 188.5-foot-tall (57.5-meter-tall) first stage booster on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean.
ESCAPADE will be New Glenn’s first interplanetary mission, an ambitious undertaking for the relatively new launch vehicle. The twin orbiters will study the magnetosphere around the Red Planet as well as analyze the processes that control the interaction of energetic solar wind particles and the Martian atmosphere.
The twin NASA satellites were built by California-based Rocket Lab. Once in space, their operation will be handed over to the University of California’s Space Sciences Laboratory, tasked with managing the $80 million mission for the space agency.
New Glenn will also carry a secondary payload as a part of the NG-2 launch. A technology demonstration from satellite communications company Viasat will be flown as well in support of NASA’s Communications Services Project, which companions with the business sector to advance developments regarding in-space networking for near-Earth satellites.