NASA and Jeff Bezos Join Forces to Launch A Mission to Mars with Blue Origin.

ESCAPADE, after an 11-month-long journey, will reach Mars to study its magnetosphere. ESCAPADE is composed of two identical spacecraft. It will collect data about how the planet’s magnetosphere interacts with the solar wind, and how energy and plasma move through its magnetic field. The probes will have three instruments. A magnetometer to measure Mars’ magnetic field and an electrostatic analyzer for measuring the behavior of electrons and ions. A Langmuir probe is used to measure plasma characteristics in the Martian magnetosphere. RocketLab and the University of California Berkeley Space Science Laboratory are developing twin probes called ESCAPADE.

Blue Origin’s rocket has a reusable first stage, which can be used for up to 25 missions

The New Glenn, carrying ESCAPADE, is scheduled to launch in January 2024. It also features seven reusable BE-4 engines. These BE-4 engines are powered by liquified natural gases and an oxygen-rich, pre-burner. Blue Origin has repeatedly delayed New Glenn’s launch, with a first launch in 2020. After a 2022 launch, New Glenn was delayed again.

NASA is thus betting on a rocket yet to fly. If the New Glenn launch does not go smoothly, it will not bode well to the ESCAPADE mission. Blue Origin is under pressure because it has never launched an orbital rocket. Blue Origin’s successful suborbital flights have been widely reported. However, no company spacecraft has ever reached orbit–a fact that Elon Musk, a competitor to Bezos, takes great pleasure in pointing out.

Blue Origin and NASA worked together previously on other matters including a 2020 Contract for NASA to use New Glenn for future launches. Blue Origin was awarded contracts in 2021 to design lunar lander concepts for Artemis 3. NASA ultimately chose SpaceX with its Starship design. Blue Origin and Sierra Space are currently developing commercial space station concepts for NASA as the agency and its international partners prepare for the retirement of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2030.

The relationship between the parties has had its ups and downs. Blue Origin sued NASA after losing the lunar contract bid for SpaceX. In court, it eventually lost.