Blue Origin’s New Glenn targets Mars with first multi-spacecraft orbital mission

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. – Blue Origin is on a mission to the Red Planet.

On Sunday, Jeff Bezos’ space technology company will attempt to launch its New Glenn rocket for the second time ever from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Launch Complex 36.

The rocket will carry NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers mission, known as EscaPADE. The mission features two identical spacecraft named Blue and Gold, which will embark on an approximately 11-month journey to Mars.

Once in orbit around the Red Planet, they will conduct an 11-month science mission, making simultaneous observations from different locations.

Manufactured by Rocket Lab over 3.5 years, the twin orbiters will carry scientific instruments developed by the University of California, Berkeley. Their goal is to study Mars’ magnetosphere and its response to space weather in real time.

EscaPADE is the first multi-spacecraft orbital science mission to Mars. It will analyze how Mars’ magnetic field guides particle flows, how energy and momentum move from the solar wind through the magnetosphere, and what controls the flow of energy and matter into and out of the Martian atmosphere.

The launch window opens at 2:45 p.m. and closes at 5:11 p.m.