L-2 days until ESCAPADE launches! Soon, the twins will be on their way to Mars for NASA & ucbssl to reveal how the planet’s real-time response to space weather and how the Martian magnetosphere changes over time.

ESCAPADE is the FIRST multi-spacecraft science mission to Mars.

Who’s ready to make history?

Christophe, Lead Systems Engineer

Christophe was the main architect overseeing the design, build, and integration of the two spacecraft. Getting two satellites to Mars on a small budget and fast timeline? That’s all thanks to his team’s ingenuity and speed. 🛰️💨

“We’ve built two beautiful spacecraft through simplification, streamlining, and parallelizing them until they’ve burgeoned into the most elegant satellites I’ve ever seen.” - Christophe

Erin, Spacecraft Mechanical Engineer

Erin supported mechanical testing and GSE for the ESCAPADE spacecraft to ensure the twins were ready for the journey to Mars. She was instrumental in the tank vibration tests, designing the test fixtures and leading the procedures to confirm the tanks could withstand the intense environment of launch.

“Since I was a kid attending STEM camps or building telescope models to when I was in university building CubeSats, I’ve always dreamt of contributing to interplanetary exploration. Working on ESCAPADE has been a full-circle moment in seeing that dream realized. This project was an incredible opportunity to collaborate with exceptional engineers, and I am so proud to be apart of the RL team that put in the hard work and dedication to bring these spacecrafts to the finish line.” - Erin

Thank you for the ride, team blueorigin. What a launch (and landing!)

A spectacular start to the ESCAPADE mission for NASA and ucbssl.

🛰️🛰️ The twins are talking!

We have successfully established contact with both ESCAPADE spacecraft, 💙 Blue and 💛 Gold.

We're on our way to Mars to enable NASA and ucbssl to study the Martian magnetosphere!

MISSION SUCCESS! We've completed another HASTE launch from Launch Complex 2 today, this time for DIU_x and Missile Defense Agency to test advanced technologies for missile defense.

HASTE is an important platform for accelerating hypersonic technology readiness for the nation and we’re proud to have delivered this mission - our 6th HASTE launch overall.

LEARN MORE: bit.ly/4r5FK0J

Blue and Gold, the satellites we built for NASA and ucbssl, are now more than a million kilometers from Earth 🛰️🛰️

Follow their journey to Mars on NASA Eyes.

https://eyes.nasa.gov/apps/solar-system/#/sc_escapade_blue

RAISE And Shine! Our next Electron launch will be a dedicated mission for JAXA_en from Launch Complex 1 to a 540km LEO.

The launch will deploy JAXA'S RAISE-4 mission that includes a single satellite with 8x tech demonstrations by companies, universities, and research institutions throughout Japan.

"RAISE And Shine" will launch NET December 5th.

ℹ️Mission info:https://rocketlabcorp.com/missions/next-mission/

The cameras are up and running on Blue and Gold! 📸

The visible-light image (left) suggests we should have the sensitivity to image Martian aurora from orbit. The infrared camera (right) will be used at Mars to better understand how materials on the surface heat up and cool down during Mars’ day-night cycle and over the planet’s seasons.

After launch comes spacecraft commissioning 🛰️🛰️

Our operators have spent recent days stabilizing spacecraft attitudes, deploying solar arrays, checking guidance and navigation systems, and powering up all flight computers and antennas on Blue and Gold as they begin their journey to Mars for the ESCAPADE mission.

Take a look at what goes on behind the scenes in mission control.

The spacecraft named Blue completed a smooth 13.8 second engine burn as planned, verifying system performance ahead of the much longer engine burns planned in the next two weeks. These longer burns will redirect the twin spacecraft towards Lagrange Point 2, a gravitational balance point, where they'll wait for the optimal window to continue their journey to Mars.

But before then though, it's Gold's turn, with its first TCM planned for 8 Dec.

Learn more on our ESCAPADE blog: bit.ly/48fci0T

Today, more than 1.59 million kilometers from Earth, a spacecraft we built for NASA and ucbssl's ESCAPADE Mars mission successfully fired its engine for the first time.

The first trajectory correction maneuver on our journey to Mars is complete! ✅

Key stats from the qualification campaign:
✅Opening and closing of Neutron's fairing halves under flight-like conditions in 1.5 seconds, less than half the time required for a successful stage separation and vehicle re-orientation for return to Earth.
✅275,000 pounds of force distributed across its carbon composite structure to simulate the load experienced during Max Q, the stage of flight of Neutron will experience maximum aerodynamic pressure.
✅125% mechanical load testing of the canards that help guide Stage 1's trajectory through launch and re-entry.

We've completed qualification & acceptance testing of the Hungry Hippo fairing for Neutron 🚀 With the design, structure, and operations of Neutron's fixed reusable fairing and upper module now proven out, Hungry Hippo is ready for launch.