Tag: EscaPADE
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New Glenn’s successful static fire test clears way for launch of ESCAPADE mission
Following Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket firing its seven BE-4 engines on the first stage for 38 seconds, the path has been cleared for its upcoming launch of the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission to Mars. The company currently plans to launch the second flight of its heavy-lift, partially reusable rocket…
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Launch Roundup: Ariane 6 flies, Atlas V and New Glenn both scrub during busy week
This week’s launch manifest featured twelve missions launching on nine different rockets, including the first attempt of the second launch of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. This roundup covers an eight-day period, from Monday, Nov. 3, to Monday, Nov. 10. In addition to four Falcon 9 missions from SpaceX, an Ariane 62, New Glenn, Chang…
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Blue Origin shifts its plans for New Glenn rocket after NASA postpones Mars mission
Elements of the New Glenn rocket’s first stage are mated at Blue Origin’s factory in Florida. (Blue Origin Photo) NASA is delaying the launch of its ESCAPADE probes to Mars, which means plans for the debut of Blue Origin’s heavy-lift New Glenn rocket will change as well. New Glenn was previously due to send the…
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Rocket Lab entered “hero mode” to finish Mars probes—now it’s up to Blue Origin
Two NASA spacecraft built by Rocket Lab are on the road from California to Florida this weekend to begin preparations for launch on Blue Origin’s first New Glenn rocket. These two science probes must launch between late September and mid-October to take advantage of a planetary alignment between Earth and Mars that only happens once…
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Rocket Lab’s Mars-bound twin satellites – Blue and Gold – hit the road ahead of Blue Origin launch
The fully integrated EscaPADE satellites sit inside a clean room at Rocket Lab’s Space Systems Group facility in Long Beach, California. Image: Rocket Lab Rocket Lab is gearing up for its first mission to another planet. In the fall, two of its spacecraft will hitch a ride onboard a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket to…
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Blue Origin wins an order from NASA for launch of Mars magnetosphere mission
An artist’s conception shows ESCAPADE probes at Mars. (Rocket Lab / UC-Berkeley Illustration) Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture has won its first NASA order for a New Glenn rocket launch, with Mars as the mission’s ultimate destination. The task order calls on Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin to provide launch service for NASA’s Escape and…
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NASA taps SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch mission to metal asteroid
File photo of a Falcon Heavy launch in April 2019. Credit: SpaceX NASA has selected SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket to launch a robotic mission in July 2022 to explore Psyche, a metal-rich asteroid located between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter. The Psyche probe is NASA’s first mission assigned to fly on SpaceX’s heavy-lift launcher.…
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NASA’s first interplanetary smallsats may struggle to stay under cost caps
Artist’s concept of the Janus mission imaging a binary asteroid. Credit: NASA The first set of proposals for a new class of small robotic probes NASA wants to dispatch across the solar system came in with higher cost estimates than agency officials expected, a NASA manager said Sunday. NASA selected three finalist mission concepts in…