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Blue Origin on Thursday confirmed that NASA's next Mars mission will be launched by the New Glenn rocket on its second flight ever. The rocket is scheduled to launch in the fourth quarter of 2025 with an additional technology demonstration payload for NASA's Communications Services Project. An official date is yet to be announced.
New Glenn’s second mission, NG-2, will send @NASA’s ESCAPADE to Mars. This launch will support ESCAPADE’s science objectives as the twin spacecraft progress on their journey to the Red Planet. Also onboard is a technology demonstration from @Viasat in support of @NASASpaceOps'… pic.twitter.com/gtWl32owMx — Blue Origin (@blueorigin) July 17, 2025
"New Glenn's second mission, NG-2, will send @NASA's ESCAPADE to Mars. This launch will support ESCAPADE’s science objectives as the twin spacecraft progress on their journey to the Red Planet. Also onboard is a technology demonstration from @Viasat in support of @NASASpaceOps' Communications Services Project," the company posted on X.
This will be an exciting mission for New Glenn and Mars exploration. ESCAPADE is not only New Glenn’s first interplanetary mission, it’s also the first multi-spacecraft orbital science mission to study the Martian magnetosphere. And, we hope to land and recover our booster for… https://t.co/Fx0pw1M587 — Dave Limp (@davill) July 17, 2025
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Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp said that the project will be "exciting" since it's the first multi-spacecraft mission to Mars. Besides, Blue Origin will also attempt to recover New Glenn's first stage booster.
"This will be an exciting mission for New Glenn and Mars exploration. ESCAPADE is not only New Glenn’s first interplanetary mission, it’s also the first multi-spacecraft orbital science mission to study the Martian magnetosphere," Limp shared on X. "And, we hope to land and recover our booster for the first time. Mars, here we come. Thank you to NASA for riding with us to space."
The ESCAPADE or Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers mission has two orbiters built in collaboration between NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and University of California, Berkley.
NASA says the orbiters (each weighing 524 kg) will investigate how the Martian magnetic field guides particle flows around the planet, how energy and momentum are transported from the solar wind through the magnetosphere, and what processes control the flow of energy and matter in and out of the Martian atmosphere. Both the orbiters have a lifespan of 11 months. Data from this mission can help scientists determine how once Earth-like Mars was stripped of its atmosphere.
ALSO SEE: NASA's Dual-Orbiter Mars Mission Almost Ready For October Launch; All About It
(Image: Blue Origin)
