Rocket Lab corporation announced it delivered two explorer-class spacecrafts to Kennedy Space Flight Center for NASA’s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers mission in partnership with the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory.
The NASA Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers mission is a dual-spacecraft project set to study Mars’ magnetosphere and atmospheric escape by orbiting the planet and collecting real-time plasma and magnetic field data.
Rocket Lab completed the design, build, integration, and testing of the twin spacecraft, named Blue and Gold in an accelerated timeline for a Mars mission. According to the company, this was successful because of Rocket Lab’s mature spacecraft manufacturing experience and its vertically integrated supply chain, which brings production of critical components like solar arrays, star trackers, propellant tanks, reaction wheels, radios, flight software, and more, in-house.
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The Escapade mission is based on Rocket Lab’s Explorer spacecraft platform. The Blue and Gold spacecraft would travel together during a 22-month voyage, before entering complementary elliptical orbits around the planet to conduct their science campaigns. The spacecraft will simultaneously capture data from two regions of Mars’ magnetosphere.
“Escapade is a perfect example of why Rocket Lab exists – to make ambitious space science faster and more affordable. Delivering two interplanetary spacecraft on schedule and within budget for a Mars mission is no small feat, and it speaks to the determination and agility of our team,” said Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck.
“This won’t be Rocket Lab’s last time at Mars; with concepts like the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter on the horizon, we’re laying the groundwork for more complex, capable, and essential missions that will support future human exploration,” he added.
Rocket Lab has also expressed interest in bringing NASA’s Perseverance rover samples back from Mars. On Sept. 10, NASA announced that a Martian surface sample collected by its Perseverance rover contains mineral textures indicative of a possible biosignature — potential evidence of ancient life on the Red Planet.
Scientists say determining if those features were actually created by extraterrestrials will require studying them with terrestrial equipment, and Beck believes Rocket Lab can make that happen.
“As a planetary science geek … on my own personal quest to look for life on other planets, the recent Martian discovery is super exciting,” Beck told Space.com. He said that Rocket Lab has all the right pieces in place for a Mars return mission, and “it would be great if that program got a new lease of life.”