SYDNEY \u2014 Preparations for the second launch of Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket, carrying a NASA Mars mission, remain on track for liftoff in the next few weeks.<\/p>\n
Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress here Oct. 1, Laura Maginnis, vice president of New Glenn mission management at Blue Origin, said the company is making steady progress toward launching NASA\u2019s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or ESCAPADE, mission from Cape Canaveral, Florida.<\/p>\n
The twin ESCAPADE spacecraft arrived in Florida in mid-September and will be fueled in the coming weeks. \u201cEverything is going really smoothly there,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
The rocket itself is also in advanced stages of preparation. The next major milestone will be a hot-fire test of the vehicle\u2019s first stage on the pad, scheduled for \u201ca few weeks\u201d from now, Maginnis said. The stage will then be rolled back and mated with the upper stage and spacecraft.<\/p>\n
Maginnis did not provide a specific launch date, saying only that the mission is scheduled for the \u201ccoming weeks.\u201d A NASA Launch Services Program official said on an agency webcast Sept. 24 that the launch is expected in late October or early November<\/a>. NASA issued a media advisory<\/a> Sept. 30 stating only that the launch was expected \u201clater this fall.\u201d<\/p>\n Delays in the launch, originally scheduled for 2024, have forced adjustments to the mission\u2019s trajectory. Maginnis said the initial plan called for New Glenn to place ESCAPADE into a supersynchronous transfer orbit with an apogee of about 100,000 kilometers, after which the spacecraft would use their thrusters to head to Mars.<\/p>\n As the launch slipped into fall 2024, Blue Origin switched to a direct injection trajectory, but the rocket was not ready before the October Mars transfer window closed.<\/p>\n