NASA's Mars Monitoring Satellite Arrives At Launch Facility

Illustration of ESCAPADE around Mars (photo: dock. Rocket Lab)

JAKARTA Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE), NASA's satellite developed by Rocket Lab, has been transferred to the Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Florida. Before being moved, these twin satellites were designed, built, and tested at the Wahana Antariksa Production Complex and the Rocket Lab head office in California. After the construction process was completed, the satellite was moved until it finally arrived on August 18. Upon arrival in Florida, the ESCAPADE was immediately moved to clean space by Rocket Lab and the University of California (UC). The ESCAPADE control team will carry out follow-up inspections and trials to ensure the performance of the components up to its system. If the inspection has been carried out, the team will refuel these twin satellites in September. Both NASA, Rocket Lab, and UC, all three will ensure that ESCAPADE is ready to launch on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket. ESCAPADE Research chief Rob Lllis said that the launch was a very important stage of his team. These twin satellites have been developed for more than three years so that the launch stage is a very important part for him.

"The success of this spacecraft delivery marks an important milestone and the culmination of dedicated team work for more than three years from individuals across the project," Lillis said. "We are excited to start the first step of our journey to Mars! ESCAPADE is targeted to arrive on Mars in September next year and will be configured for several months. It is planned that these twin satellites will start operating in early 2026 with a unique formation called Untauian Mutiara. The two satellites will co-exist and follow each other to stay in the same orbit. These two satellites will observe Mars conditions and seek interactions with solar wind variations with the Martian magnetic environment.