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Mission record

EscaPADE

Also known as ESCAPADE, Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, ESCAPADE Blue, ESCAPADE Gold

National Aeronautics and Space Administration · Launched

Explore trajectory

Active · Active

The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) are a dual-spacecraft mission to study ion and sputtered escape from Mars. EscaPADE is part of the NASA Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program. Each identical spacecraft, named "Blue" and "Gold", has a dry mass of 209 kg and a fully fueled mass of 535 kg. It launched on Nov. 13, 2025 into a loiter orbit around Earth's Lagrange point 2 and will use Earth's gravity in the fall of 2026 to slingshot toward Mars; NASA's mission page, fetched on 2026-09-02, lists it as an Active Mission.

Destinations
Launch vehicle
New Glenn
Launch site
Cape Canaveral, United States
Countries
United States
Mission types
Orbiter

Chronology

Mission timeline

  1. Launch

    Launched on a New Glenn after an indefinite delay

    ESCAPADE launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on Nov. 13, 2025. NASA's page prints Launch Date and Time Nov. 13, 2025, 3:55 p.m. EST, Launch Vehicle Blue Origin New Glenn 2 and Launch Site Launch Complex 36, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station; the committed vehicle and site are NSSDCA's Facts in Brief values New Glenn and Cape Canaveral, United States, and the disagreement is recorded rather than resolved. THE DAY IS COMMITTED RATHER THAN THE TIME because no cited page prints a launch time other than 3:55 p.m. EST and converting it would be arithmetic rather than a reading. NSSDCA's own Facts in Brief has an empty Launch Date and its page still says the planned launch on the Blue Origin New Glenn booster from Cape Canaveral, originally scheduled for October 13, 2024, has been delayed indefinitely; GCAT's deepcat rows D01198 and D01199 give both spacecraft an LDate of 2025 Nov 13, and its satcat rows S66451 and S66452 give the same pair an SDate of 2025 Nov 13 2128, which this record does not commit as a launch time.

    Earth

  2. Milestone

    Loitering near Earth's Lagrange point 2 until the 2026 alignment

    Because Earth and Mars weren't aligned at that time for a direct trip, the spacecraft launched into a loiter orbit that loops around Earth's Lagrange point 2 - about a million miles away, opposite the Sun. In the fall of 2026, when Earth and Mars align, the spacecraft will use Earth's gravity to slingshot toward Mars. That Earth gravity assist has not happened, so earth is not among this record's destinations and this event is a milestone rather than a gravity-assist. The spacecraft will reach Mars a few days apart and each will fire its engines for about 11 minutes to slow down and enter orbit around the planet.

    Earth

Mission architecture

Vehicles

  • ESCAPADE Blue · Orbiter

    Destinations: Mars

  • ESCAPADE Gold · Orbiter

    Destinations: Mars

Trajectory record

Trajectory dataset not yet available

No verified trajectory dataset is committed for this mission, so Mission Atlas renders no path.

Provenance

Sources

Each source is listed once and labeled with the mission, event, trajectory, or destination/body context it supports.

Data verified through September 2, 2026