For one, it launched a pair of NASA spacecraft named ESCAPADE, which are headed to Mars orbit to study that planet's magnetic environment and atmosphere. The twin spacecraft will first travel to a Lagrange point, a place where the gravity between Earth, the Moon, and the Sun balances. The ESCAPADE spacecraft will remain there until Mars is in better alignment to travel to.
A blast from the Sun kept Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket on the pad as the Northern Lights forced NASA to halt the launch. It has not been a good week for Jeff Bezos' rocket. A planned launch on November 9 was scrubbed due to weather, and the Blue Origin team had hoped to get the New Glenn off the pad on November 12, but it was not to be. While skywatchers were admiring an aurora, NASA scientists were fretting about the effects of the solar storm.
UC Berkeley scientists are in charge of two identical satellites, nicknamed Blue and Gold to honor the university's colors, set to launch for Mars as soon as Sunday. Leading NASA's ESCAPADE mission, the team based at UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory's mission operations center will manage the twin satellites as they take off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, this weekend and travel to Mars by 2027.
Mish and Lucy, two five-year-old European brown bears, escaped from their enclosure and raided a cafe's food stores before being gently lured back, showcasing whimsical mischief.