After months of anticipation and meticulous preparation, Blue Origin’s massive New Glenn rocket stands ready to embark on its second-ever flight—this time carrying a groundbreaking scientific mission that could reshape our understanding of the Red Planet’s mysterious atmosphere.
A Historic Launch on the Horizon
The 321-foot-tall New Glenn rocket is scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, November 9, 2025, during a launch window opening at 2:45 p.m. EST.
This marks a significant milestone not only for Blue Origin but for planetary science, as ESCAPADE will be the first Mars mission to launch in more than five years, since NASA’s Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter departed in July 2020.
The mission’s name—ESCAPADE, or Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers—hints at its ambitious scientific goals.
The twin spacecraft will investigate why Mars began to lose its atmosphere billions of years ago and study how its harsh climate may affect future explorers.
Twin Spacecraft on a Shared Mission
At the heart of this mission are two identical spacecraft, affectionately named “Blue” and “Gold” in honor of the University of California, Berkeley’s colors.
Built by Rocket Lab on their Explorer satellite bus in just three-and-a-half years—a fraction of the typical decade-long timeline for Mars missions—these compact yet capable orbiters represent a new era of efficient planetary exploration.
Each spacecraft carries three sophisticated instruments: the ESCAPADE magnetometer (EMAG) mounted on a two-meter boom to measure ambient magnetic fields, an electrostatic analyzer (EESA) to measure ion and electron properties, and an electric field instrument (ELP).
Together, these tools will work in concert to paint an unprecedented three-dimensional picture of Mars’ magnetosphere.
After reaching Mars, the twin probes will spend about seven months lowering themselves into precisely aligned orbits, then gather data for at least 11 months, flying in formation to create the first stereo view of the Red Planet’s unique near-space environment.
Understanding Mars’ Lost Atmosphere
The scientific stakes couldn’t be higher. The mission has three main goals: understanding the processes controlling Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere structure and ion flow guidance, determining how energy and momentum transfer from solar wind through the magnetosphere, and identifying processes that control energy and matter flow into and out of the collisional atmosphere.
According to mission scientists, ESCAPADE will make critical space weather measurements needed to understand the system well enough to forecast solar storms whose radiation could harm astronauts on Mars’ surface or in orbit. This knowledge is essential for future human exploration of the Red Planet.
The mission will build on work from the still-active MAVEN orbiter but at dramatically lower cost—less than $80 million for the entire ESCAPADE mission compared to MAVEN’s $582 million primary mission budget.
The two-spacecraft approach offers a crucial advantage: the ability to take 3D, time-resolved measurements that a single spacecraft cannot achieve, eliminating hour-long time lags in data collection.
New Glenn’s Second Flight
For Blue Origin, this launch represents a critical test of their heavy-lift capabilities. New Glenn successfully completed its inaugural test flight on January 16, 2025, sending a prototype Blue Ring spacecraft platform to orbit, though the company did not succeed in landing the first stage on a ship at sea that day.
This time around, Blue Origin has incorporated numerous changes to the propellant management system and made minor hardware modifications to increase the likelihood of successfully landing the booster.
The reusable first-stage booster, named “Never Tell Me The Odds,” will attempt to land on Blue Origin’s cargo ship Jacklyn after stage separation.
If successfully recovered, Blue Origin plans to fly this same booster on its third mission, which will carry the first Blue Moon Mark 1 uncrewed lunar lander—a testament to the company’s confidence in its recovery capabilities.
A Journey Years in the Making
ESCAPADE’s path to the launch pad has been anything but straightforward. The mission was originally intended to launch as a secondary payload with the Psyche asteroid probe, but when Psyche was selected to fly on a Falcon Heavy rocket, the mission plan for ESCAPADE couldn’t be updated in time, prompting NASA to reopen launch vehicle selection.
Blue Origin won the contract to launch the mission in February 2023 at a cost of approximately $20 million, initially targeting October 2024 for the maiden New Glenn flight.
However, when it became clear that New Glenn wouldn’t be ready in time, NASA postponed the mission to spring 2025, citing the cost, schedule, and technical challenges of potentially removing fuel from the spacecraft in the event of launch delays.
The spacecraft were briefly shipped back to Rocket Lab in California for storage before returning to Florida’s Astrotech Space Operations Facility on September 16, 2025, for final launch processing and fueling.
The twin satellites were finally encapsulated inside New Glenn’s 23-foot-diameter payload fairings on October 31.
Additional Payload and Mission Profile
Beyond ESCAPADE, the mission will carry a secondary payload from Viasat that will test communications technologies as part of NASA’s Communications Services Project, which aims to shift from NASA-run relay systems to commercial networks.
The mission profile calls for two burns of the BE-3U engines on New Glenn’s upper stage before the twin satellites deploy approximately 33 minutes after liftoff, with the Viasat demonstration activating about five minutes after the second ESCAPADE satellite separates.
After spacecraft separation, the upper stage will enter a heliocentric disposal orbit, with the overall mission concluding about one hour and 40 minutes after liftoff.
Weather and Launch Window Considerations
The 45th Weather Squadron is forecasting a 65% chance of favorable launch conditions, with concerns primarily around cumulus clouds and surface electric fields.
Should weather or technical issues prevent launch on Sunday, a backup opportunity exists on Monday, November 10, from 2:40 p.m. to 4:08 p.m. EST.
Adding complexity to the launch schedule, the FAA has issued an order restricting commercial rocket launches between 6 a.m. and 10 p.m. EST beginning Monday to ease burden on air traffic controllers during a government situation. Blue Origin is working closely with the FAA and NASA to secure exemptions and ensure the Mars mission can proceed on schedule.
Looking Ahead: Mars Arrival in 2027
If all proceeds as planned, the ESCAPADE spacecraft will arrive in Martian orbit in 2027, beginning their primary science mission to unlock secrets about Mars’ atmospheric evolution.
The insights gained could prove invaluable not only for understanding planetary science but also for planning future crewed missions to Mars.
As Blue Origin’s New Glenn prepares for this historic flight, the convergence of commercial spaceflight capabilities and cutting-edge planetary science promises to usher in a new chapter of Mars exploration—one that’s faster, more cost-effective, and more ambitious than ever before.
Key Takeaways
- Mission Name: ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers)
- Launch Vehicle: Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket (second flight)
- Launch Date: Sunday, November 9, 2025, at 2:45 p.m. EST
- Launch Site: Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida
- Spacecraft: Two identical orbiters built by Rocket Lab, nicknamed “Blue” and “Gold”
- Mars Arrival: Expected in 2027
- Mission Duration: Seven months of orbit adjustment, followed by at least 11 months of data collection
- Mission Cost: Less than $80 million total
- Primary Goal: Study Mars’ magnetosphere, atmospheric escape, and space weather for future human exploration
