- Rocket Lab is in the system integration phase for two spacecraft intended for NASA’s ESCAPADE mission to Mars.
- The twin-spacecraft mission aims to study Mars’ hybrid magnetosphere and its atmospheric changes over time.
October 19, 2023, LONG BEACH, Calif. — Rocket Lab USA, Inc., a prominent figure in the space systems and launch services domain, recently divulged the commencement of the system integration phase for the duo of spacecraft being fashioned for NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission. A launch has been mapped out for the year 2024.
The chief objective of the ESCAPADE mission, piloted by Dr. Rob Lillis from the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, is a deep exploration of Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere. The mission’s intent pivots around probing the dynamics, structure, composition, and variability of the Martian magnetosphere. Notably, the mission seeks insights into the phenomenon of solar wind stripping away Mars’ atmosphere, which plays a pivotal role in comprehending the climatic transformations Mars has undergone. To achieve these scientific goals, the spacecrafts are equipped with a suite of instruments comprising a magnetometer, an electrostatic analyzer, and a Langmuir probe.
Ensuring the spacecrafts are fortified against the challenging expanse of space and their prodigious 230-million-mile journey to Mars, Rocket Lab’s dedicated team has successfully completed the System Integration Review. The integration involves melding the spacecraft bus with an array of sophisticated equipment such as solar arrays, star trackers, radios, separation systems, and a gamut of flight software. A significant portion of the flight equipment has been supplied by UCB and various mission collaborators. Moreover, the spacecrafts have been subjected to rigorous tests to affirm their performance, including vibration, thermal vacuum, and electromagnetic compatibility evaluations. Compatibility tests with NASA’s Deep Space Network (DSN) have also been finalized, facilitating communication with Rocket Lab’s Frontier-X radios aboard the spacecraft.
Peter Beck, Rocket Lab founder and CEO, expressed, “Reaching the flight integration phase for a new spacecraft is a significant milestone, especially for a complex interplanetary mission like this. Building on the successful delivery of a spacecraft to lunar orbit for NASA last year, it’s a privilege to be developing a spacecraft headed for deep space to perform Decadal-class science with our partners at UC Berkeley.”
The intricacies of the ESCAPADE spacecraft integration are being meticulously worked out at Rocket Lab’s avant-garde facility located in Long Beach. The mission is a pioneering endeavor under NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration program and marks the initiation of a Heliophysics mission to another planet. A launch in 2024 will position the spacecrafts in low Earth orbit aboard a Blue Origin New Glenn launch vehicle supplied by NASA. Rocket Lab’s spacecrafts are then slated to execute the Mars transfer, eventually setting themselves in a “string of pearls” orbital formation, heralding the commencement of the scientific exploration phase in 2026.
