New Glenn to Launch NASA’s ESCAPADE Mars Twins

Lead

Blue Origin’s second New Glenn rocket is set for no-earlier-than liftoff on Sunday, Nov. 9, from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, carrying NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft and a Viasat communications demonstration. The 321-foot (98 m) vehicle will climb on a southeast trajectory during an 88-minute window that opens at 2:45 p.m. EST (19:45 UTC). Mission planners expect the twin satellites, called Blue and Gold, to separate about 33 minutes after liftoff; the Viasat demo will activate minutes later. Blue Origin also plans a sea landing attempt of the first stage on the autonomous barge Jacklyn while teams monitor weather and recovery risk.

Key Takeaways

• Launch window: 88 minutes opening at 2:45 p.m. EST (19:45 UTC) on Nov. 9, 2025 from Cape Canaveral Launch Complex 36.
• Vehicle: New Glenn is 321 feet (98 m) tall; payload fairings are 23 feet (7 m) in diameter enclosing the two ESCAPADE probes.
• Payloads: NASA’s ESCAPADE twin spacecraft (Blue and Gold) and a Viasat communications demonstration; ESCAPADE deploys ~33 minutes after liftoff, Viasat ~5 minutes after Gold.
• Booster recovery: First stage ‘‘Never Tell Me the Odds’’ is 188 feet (57.4 m); Blue Origin will attempt a barge landing using BE-4 engines and may reuse the booster on a later flight.
• Weather: 45th Weather Squadron forecasts 65 percent favorable at window open, falling to roughly 55 percent later due to a cold front and thunderstorm risk.
• Mission timeline: Spacecraft will loiter in Earth orbit ~1 year, then begin a ~10-month cruise to Mars; Mars orbit insertion is planned for September 2027.
• Program context: ESCAPADE was selected under NASA’s SIMPLEx program and was reassigned from New Glenn’s first flight to NG-2 after schedule slips.
• Contract: The VADR contract that assigned the launch can reach up to $300 million in total value over five years.

Background

New Glenn’s second flight represents the rocket’s first commercial customer payloads after its maiden launch in January 2025. Blue Origin completed assembly and moved the first stage ‘‘Never Tell Me the Odds’’ to Cape Canaveral on Oct. 8, 2025, and fairing encapsulation of the ESCAPADE pair occurred Oct. 31. The launcher’s design centers on a reusable first stage propelled by BE-4 engines, and an upper stage that will perform two BE-3U burns on NG-2 to place payloads on the planned trajectory.

ESCAPADE began in 2016 as the Mars Ion and Sputtering Escape Network (MISEN) concept and by July 2018 had evolved into ESCAPADE. In June 2019 NASA selected it as one of three SIMPLEx finalists, a class of small, lower-cost planetary missions with accelerated timelines and higher risk tolerance. The science team is led by NASA Goddard and UC Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory, with major contributions from Rocket Lab, Advanced Space, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Northern Arizona University.

Main Event

Blue Origin plans an NG-2 liftoff on a southeast heading from LC-36; the company will attempt to recover the first stage on its autonomous barge Jacklyn. The booster will throttle from three BE-4 engines down to one for the terminal landing burn in a sequence similar to prior New Glenn operations. Blue Origin has said it intends to reuse the recovered booster on a third flight if the recovery is successful, and the company’s CEO noted backups are in production should recovery fail.

The two ESCAPADE spacecraft were placed inside New Glenn’s 7-meter fairings on Oct. 31 after being shipped from Rocket Lab’s Long Beach facility. Rocket Lab built the twin probes on its Explorer bus with a high propellant mass fraction (about 70 percent for ESCAPADE) to achieve the delta-V required for the interplanetary trajectory. After upper-stage maneuvers, the mission timeline calls for the satellites to separate roughly 33 minutes after liftoff, followed by the Viasat demo activating a few minutes later.

Operational control and launch integration are coordinated under NASA’s Launch Services Program and the agency’s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contract. ESCAPADE’s revised trajectory—designed by Advanced Space—stems from the delay that moved the mission off New Glenn’s originally planned inaugural flight window in late 2024 and into NG-2 in November 2025.

Analysis & Implications

This flight is a milestone for New Glenn: it transitions the vehicle from demonstration launches to carrying customer hardware to space. Successful deployment and upper-stage performance would strengthen market confidence in Blue Origin’s ability to serve commercial and government customers. Conversely, an upper-stage anomaly or a failed booster recovery would raise questions about schedule and cost for near-term launches that depend on reusable first-stage economics.

For NASA and the planetary science community, ESCAPADE embodies the SIMPLEx model: compressed development (roughly 3.5 years of build time versus a decade typical of major Mars missions), lower budgets, and higher technical risk. If ESCAPADE achieves its science objectives—characterizing Mars’ magnetosphere and ion escape—it will provide new constraints on how atmospheric loss shaped Mars’ climate history and inform models of planetary habitability.

Delays that forced a one-year Earth-orbit hold and a 10-month cruise reflect trade-offs between launcher readiness and mission design. The altered trajectory and extended timeline expose the spacecraft to additional operational phases (extended checkout in Earth orbit) but preserve the mission’s scientific goals with only modest schedule slippage: Mars orbit insertion is still planned for September 2027, with primary science operations June 2028–May 2029.

Comparison & Data

This table contrasts NG-2’s technical profile and ESCAPADE’s compressed development against typical large Mars missions. The most notable differences are development time and reuse approach: ESCAPADE leverages small-sat methods and high fuel fractions on a compact bus to accomplish science that previously required much larger, longer projects.

Reactions & Quotes

NASA Heliophysics leadership framed ESCAPADE as a meaningful expansion of space-weather science to Mars, emphasizing the mission’s potential to inform long-term human and robotic operations at the planet.

Really excited to see Heliophysics’ first mission to Mars and the space-weather data it will deliver as humanity expands into the cosmos.

Joseph Westlake, NASA Heliophysics Director

Blue Origin’s CEO stressed readiness and production depth in public remarks ahead of NG-2, noting the company has additional boosters in production even as teams aim for recovery.

We’ve got several more New Glenn boosters already in production; recovery is the goal, but we’re prepared either way.

Dave Limp, Blue Origin CEO (social post)

At Rocket Lab’s Long Beach facility, engineers highlighted the pace and constraints of building two deep-space-capable satellites in roughly three and a half years, contrasting that with decade-long flagship programs.

We built two Mars-ready satellites in three-and-a-half years—an accelerated pace compared with typical interplanetary missions.

Christophe Mandy, Rocket Lab (paraphrased)

Unconfirmed

• Exact probability of successful booster recovery on this attempt remains unknown; sea-state and late-stage engine performance will be decisive.
• Detailed parameters of the Viasat demonstration (performance metrics and operational objectives) have not been fully disclosed in public sources.
• Minor schedule adjustments to upper-stage burn timings or spacecraft checkouts could occur depending on prelaunch assessments and weather constraints.

Bottom Line

NG-2 is a consequential flight: it will be the first time New Glenn carries customer payloads and it will dispatch NASA’s first Heliophysics-class mission to Mars. The results will influence customer confidence in Blue Origin’s commercial offering and shape recovery expectations for future reusable-rocket operations.

ESCAPADE itself represents a promising, cost-conscious approach to planetary science: a fast-built pair of spacecraft aiming to deliver targeted measurements of Mars’ magnetospheric dynamics and atmospheric escape. Watch for launch weather updates, booster recovery reports, and the early upper-stage performance readouts in the minutes and hours after liftoff.

Sources

• Spaceflight Now — media report with live-coverage details and briefing summaries.
• Blue Origin — company (official) information and press releases about New Glenn and booster operations.
• Rocket Lab — company (official) on spacecraft manufacture and the Explorer bus.
• NASA — agency (official), including Launch Services Program and mission science leads.
• University of California, Berkeley — academic (institution) partner hosting the Space Sciences Laboratory leading ESCAPADE science.
• Viasat — company (official) involved in the communications demonstration payload.