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{{short description|Planned NASA mission to Mars}}

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}}Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) is a planned spacecraft mission to Mars consisting of two spacecraft known as Blue and Gold.WEB, Sanders, Robert, 2021-08-23, 'Blue' and 'Gold' satellites headed to Mars in 2024,weblink 2023-02-11, Berkeley News, en-US, WEB, NASA – NSSDCA – Spacecraft – Details,weblink NSSDC, NASA, 2023-02-11, {{PD-notice}} The mission, expected to launch in September 2024, is part of NASA's SIMPLEx program.WEB, Foust, Jeff,weblink ESCAPADE confident in planned 2024 New Glenn launch, SpaceNews, 13 April 2023, 14 April 2023, In May 2024, it was announced the spacecraft reached substantial completion.TWEET, 1785781514263040002, RocketLab, This spacecraft is going to Mars, May 2, 2024, 9 May 2024,

Mission

EscaPADE is led by Principal Investigator Dr. Robert Lillis and colleagues at the University of California, Berkeley. The spacecraft is being built by Rocket Lab based on their "Explorer" spacecraft bus.Hatfield, Miles (August 20, 2021). "NASA’s ESCAPADE Mission – Twin Martian Orbiters – Moves Toward Launch," NASA. Retrieved 23 Nov. 2023. At an anticipated cost of $79 million (including launch vehicle), the mission will demonstrate low-cost planetary space exploration. The twin spacecraft will study Mars' unique magnetosphere and how solar wind contributed to the loss of most of the planet's atmosphere over solar system history.

Launch

The Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration ("SIMPLEx") programFoust, Jeff (February 20, 2023). "Trials and tribulations of planetary smallsats", The Space Review. Retrieved 23 Nov. 2023. was intended as a program to select small, low-cost space missions to fly as secondary payloads on other NASA missions. As a ride-along mission on another launch, not a main mission, they were intended to have low cost and tolerate a higher level of risk than other NASA missions.EscaPADE was originally selected from a competition to be a low-cost ride-along "mission of opportunity" to hitch a ride to Mars with the Psyche spacecraft, and drop off as the spacecraft made a fly-by of Mars. Thus, it had an anticipated launch cost of nearly nothing. However, the launch of the Psyche mission was delayed, which meant that when Psyche passes the orbit of Mars, Mars is no longer near the trajectory of Psyche. Rather than cancel the mission, NASA announced that it would go on a different launch vehicle, and requested bids from industry for the launch.In February 2023, Blue Origin won the contract to launch the mission on the first flight of the New Glenn launch vehicle in September 2024, at a cost of ~$20 million.WEB, Foust, Jeff,weblink NASA planning September launch of Mars smallsat mission on first New Glenn, SpaceNews, 25 April 2024, 26 April 2024,

Spacecraft

Each identical EscaPADE spacecraft has a dry mass of ~200 kg, with a wet mass of