A Class D mission called ESCAPADE will research how solar wind energy is transferred through Mars’ distinct hybrid magnetosphere. According to a statement from the Bezos-led company, Blue Origin was on-ramped to the NASA VADR launch services Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract on January 26, 2022, with a five-year period of performance. The identical twin ESCAPADEs, or Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, will arrive in Mars orbit in around 11 months.
Source: CNET Highlights
The innovative NASA astronaut John Glenn, who became the first American to orbit Earth in 1962, is honored by the naming of New Glenn, which features a reusable first stage intended to be launched on at least 25 flights. With its smaller, suborbital New Shepard rocket, which can transport research payloads on quick, weightless flights to the edge of space and back, Blue Origin has launched past NASA missions.
According to Jarrett Jones, senior vice president, of New Glenn, Blue Origin, ESCAPADE continues a long legacy of NASA Mars scientific and exploration missions, and we’re happy Nasa’s Launch Services Program has chosen New Glenn to launch the instruments that will explore Mars’ magnetosphere.
As Bezos’ rocket company begins to compete with SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and other big companies for flights to low-Earth orbit and beyond, ESCAPADE gives Blue Origin another line of business with a significant government client. According to NASA, a launch under the VADR program can cost up to $300 million. The space agency refused to reveal the ESCAPADE contract’s worth, claiming that such information was proprietary. Blue Origin also refuses to talk about specific financials.
According to Blue Origin, the New Glenn rocket has been chosen to launch payloads into orbit for three prominent satellite operators in addition to NASA: Eutelsat, JSAT, and Telesat.
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