A Mars mission is typically a high-profile, high-budget spectacle — but not this one. Without the usual fanfare, NASA is quietly sending two surprisingly low-cost spacecraft toward the Red Planet on a route no one has ever tried before. Not only are these twin satellites on a pioneering, never-before-attempted trajectory, but they are also tasked with solving a billion-year-old cosmic mystery. What they uncover could reveal how Mars went from a warm, watery world to the frozen desert we see today.
ESCAPADE will take an unconventional route to Mars
Dubbed ESCAPADE, short for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, the mission aims to test a completely new way of reaching the Red Planet.
Unlike traditional Mars missions that rely on the “fuel-saving” trajectory available only every two years when Earth and Mars line up, these twin spacecraft will take a novel detour. They will first orbit a stable point between Earth and the Sun, linger there for roughly a year, and then swing back toward Earth before finally heading to Mars. This unconventional path was designed to accommodate delays in earlier launch attempts, which made the standard launch window impossible.
NASA notes that this approach could pave the way for future human missions to Mars, allowing multiple spacecraft to launch over several months rather than being confined to a short launch period.
ESCAPADE was originally set to launch on November 9, 2025, aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, but unfavorable weather forced a postponement. The mission’s next launch window is scheduled for Wednesday, November 12, 2025.
UC Berkeley leads budget-friendly NASA mission
NASA’s ESCAPADE mission marks a first: a planetary mission led by UC Berkeley, which crafted the scientific instruments and will oversee the spacecraft from its own control center. The two probes, Blue and Gold, named after the university’s iconic colors, were built by Rocket Lab. Compact yet powerful—each roughly the size of a stacked washer and dryer—they pack advanced technology into a small frame.
The mission comes with a total price tag of $80 million under NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program. Impressively, Rocket Lab delivered both spacecraft in just 3.5 years for $57 million, demonstrating a cost-efficient approach compared with NASA’s usual billion-dollar planetary ventures.
ESCAPADE’s ambitious mission goals
Aside from testing a completely new way of reaching the Red Planet, NASA’s ESCAPADE mission also aims to provide an unprecedented look at Mars’ magnetic fields, upper atmosphere, and ionosphere—the layer of charged particles surrounding the planet. By mapping these regions in 3D, scientists hope to better understand the Red Planet’s space environment.
Unlike Earth, Mars lacks a global magnetic shield, leaving it exposed to solar storms that could pose serious risks to future astronauts. Data collected along this innovative trajectory will help researchers predict these storms and develop strategies to protect human explorers. Earlier orbiters couldn’t study space weather in real-time because a single spacecraft cannot capture both the cause and effect of solar storms.
Rocket Lab engineers are currently preparing the Blue and Gold spacecraft at their Florida launch site. Once at Mars, the two probes will orbit in nearly identical paths, just minutes apart, allowing scientists to observe how the planet’s upper atmosphere evolves over time. Equipped with specialized instruments, the spacecraft will track how tiny particles escape from Mars into space, improving models of the ionosphere that affect communications and navigation signals—critical knowledge for future human missions.
The journey along the abovementioned new route will take 22 months, followed by 9 months of orbital adjustments, before the spacecraft begin their primary science operations in June 2028.
Editor’s Note: This article has been updated to reflect that the November 12, 2025, launch has been postponed indefinitely due to elevated solar activity.
Source: The Economic Times