Two identical satellites, "Blue" and “Gold", will be part of the ESCAPADE Mars mission. They will study how the planet’s ionospheres and magnetic fields interact. Rocket Lab
Official authorization has been given for an interplanetary mission by the University of California at Berkeley to place two satellites, "Blue" (or "Gold"), into orbit around Mars. It is scheduled to launch in October 2024.
NASA announced last week that the spacecraft would likely explore the atmosphere of the red planet and its interaction with solar wind by 2026.
The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers mission (ESCAPADE), is the result of two years' intense work by scientists from UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory. It was designed to demonstrate that a relatively affordable spacecraft can be built, tested, integrated, launched, and cost less than $80million and can be assembled quickly to explore other planets. NASA's typical planetary missions can take more than a decade to prepare and cost over $1 billion.
Robert Lillis (SSL's associate director of planetary science and astrobiology), stated that ESCAPADE and the two other NASA missions approved recently are experiments to determine whether advancements in the space industry in the past five to ten years can translate into a better science per dollar. NASA leadership has taken the risk of sending two spacecraft to Mars at a cost of less than $80 million.
Rocket Lab, a Long Beach-based space contractor, will provide two Photon spacecraft for the support and housing of the instruments. The UC Berkeley team will collaborate with Rocket Lab. NASA's Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration program (SIMPLEx), which aims to promote academic and industry collaboration, is an example of the kind of cooperation that it hopes to encourage. It was created to support compelling planetary science using small satellites and to provide more flight experiences to the scientific community.
Lillis stated that these missions are "a new commercial, higher-risk, high-reward way of doing things." Instead of spending $800million for a 95% success rate, could we instead spend $80 million to get an 80% chance of success? NASA is trying to figure this out through these missions.
The mission's purpose is to gather data that can help reconstruct Mars' climate history and to determine when Mars lost its atmosphere. This was once dense enough for water to flow, including rivers, lakes, and even oceans. ESCAPADE will also study the ionosphere on Mars. This can cause interference with radio communications between Earth and Mars colonists.
Lillis stated that ESCAPADE would provide the first'stereo" picture of this dynamic plasma environment by combining two-point observations from the solar wind and Mars's ionosphere/magnetosphere simultaneously.
Shannon Curry, UC Berkeley's project scientist for the mission, stated that "This constellation of satellites at Mars will answer large questions about the atmosphere or the solar wind in real-time."
The twin ESCAPADE satellites will arrive on Mars in 2026. They will orbit the planet in complementary orbits to collect hot ionized radiation (cross section in yellow, green and magnetic fields) and to study how Mars' atmosphere escapes into space. Credit: UC Berkeley / Robert Lillis
Rocket Lab joined forces with UC Berkeley to build spacecraft platforms and rockets since 2006. It has been producing these platforms and rockets for commercial, defense, and civil customers since 2006. NASA reviewed the preliminary design and plan for the mission and concluded last week that Rocket Lab and UC Berkeley had met all milestones, which are key decision points required to launch. Next steps will be the final design and construction of the instruments.
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said that ESCAPADE was an innovative mission that demonstrates interplanetary science can be achieved at a fraction the cost of traditional methods. He also stated that Photon made it possible. "ESCAPADE has reached a crucial milestone. It is a testament to the outstanding science and engineering work by the UC Berkeley Rocket Lab teams. We are thrilled to have NASA give us the go ahead to fly.
This mission is a culmination of decades of SSL's experience in building satellite instruments and spacecraft to explore the regions around Earth, Mars and the moon. The mission focuses on magnetic field interactions and the wind of particles from sunlight. The two satellites will be named after UC Berkeley's school colors. They will have instruments made at SSL to measure high-energy electron flows, ionized oxygen, and carbon dioxide molecules escaping Mars. There will also be magnetic field detectors from UCLA and a probe that measures slower or thermal ions, both built at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Daytona Beach, Florida.
Lillis stated that twin satellites allow scientists to simultaneously measure conditions at two locations around the planet. This allows scientists to link plasma conditions at one location to the escaping Ion flux at the other. The two satellites will move around to map the magnetosphere and upper atmosphere of almost the entire planet, at an altitude between 150 and 10,000 km.
NASA selected ESCAPADE in 2019 to receive $8.3M for a concept design. ESCAPADE was to ride on a rocket that was launching Psyche in August 2022. NASA considered other options after the launch vehicle was modified. NASA eventually decided to launch ESCAPADE aboard a second, yet unselected commercial rocket.
"For ESCAPADE," Alan Zide (program executive at NASA headquarters), said in a blog posting on NASA's site that they are evaluating a variety of rideshare options to allow this critical science and lower costs.
The instruments are not being changed, but must be rearranged to fit the Photon platform.
Lillis stated that while the instruments and science objectives remain the same, Lillis noted that everything is different from the launch pad to space. We are using a new contractor, a new propulsion system, and a shorter mission plan to get to Mars.
The journey to Mars will take approximately 11 months. After that, Blue and Gold will seperate and begin their mission.
Lillis stated that his reaction to NASA’s decision was "just unbebridled joy, happiness," but admitted that he will not be content until 2026 when he receives "our first data from orbit around Mars."
Continue reading Small satellite concept finalists aim for Mars, Moon and Beyond
