"If it succeeds, it could reveal mysteries about how Mars became the red wasteland that we see today, and may help us send humans to safely explore our planetary neighbor. It also pioneers a new path to Mars and a cheaper if riskier model for space exploration. It's a huge privilege to be leading a mission to Mars, said Robert Lillis, the UC Berkeley planetary scientist leading the international team of researchers, over email."
"The satellites will then hang in a loping orbit around the Earth until they use our planet's gravity to slingshot towards Mars in 2026, hurtling through interplanetary space until they arrive in late 2027. Once they arrive, the twin satellites named Blue and Gold after UC Berkeley's school colors will orbit in formation around Mars, zipping one after the other and taking in reams of measurements about the Red Planet's atmosphere and magnetic field."
ESCAPADE is a NASA-funded, UC Berkeley-led mission deploying twin unmanned satellites to study how space weather affects the Martian atmosphere and magnetic field. The satellites aim to clarify how Mars lost its atmosphere and to inform safe human exploration. The mission could launch as early as November 9 on a Blue Origin rocket from Cape Canaveral and will use an Earth gravity slingshot in 2026 to reach Mars by late 2027. The two spacecraft, named Blue and Gold, will fly in formation and take coordinated measurements, pioneering a multi-satellite approach and a lower-cost, higher-risk exploration model.
Read at www.mercurynews.com
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