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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

    NASA reports launch on November 13, 2025 at 3:55 p.m. EST; EST is UTC minus five hours, giving 20:55 UTC at minute precision. NASA names New Glenn 2 and Launch Complex 36, while the catalog retains NSSDCA's broader New Glenn and Cape Canaveral labels. GCAT's 21:28 satellite catalog date is not used as the 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

Time-dependent navigation trajectory

Source states place the model at the selected time. Reconstructed flight, estimates, predictions and historical mission plans are identified by interval; gaps remain visible.

J2000 · Sun-centered display · positions interpolated between source states

Coverage: November 13, 2025 to November 2, 2026

Source records and sampling assumptions are retained with the repository data. Model attitude and surface appearance are illustrative.

  • ESCAPADE Blue: Estimated · November 13, 2025 to November 2, 2026
  • ESCAPADE Gold: Estimated · November 13, 2025 to October 26, 2026

Provenance

Sources

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

Data verified through October 11, 2026