ESCAPADE: Lessons Learned for Cost-effective Deep Space Exploration

ESCAPADE is a twin-spacecraft low-cost Mars mission that will revolutionize our understanding of how space weather conditions affect magnetic structure and flows of energy throughout Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere, and how this interaction drives Atmospheric escape and climate evolution. UC Berkeley leads the effort, providing project management, systems engineering, instrumentation, and mission operations. ESCAPADE are small spacecraft (~200 kg dry mass) manufactured by Rocket Lab USA. NASA provides magnetometers, Embry Riddle University provides Langmuir probes, and Northern Arizona University provides visible and infrared cameras. Launching on Blue Origin’s New Glenn in fall 2024,, the two ESCAPADE craft (“Blue” and “Gold”) will reach Mars in September 2025 and start their science campaign in March 2026. This presentation will focus on expected science topics to be investigated, relevance to NASA’s Moon-to-Mars initiative, and on lessons learned by NASA and the ESCAPADE team that may be applied to future low-cost planetary and heliospheric science missions. https://escapade.ssl.berkeley.edu/