{"id":17316,"date":"2023-02-10T00:50:01","date_gmt":"2023-02-09T16:50:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/blue-origin-wins-an-order-from-nasa-for-launch-of-mars-magnetosphere-mission\/"},"modified":"2023-02-10T00:50:01","modified_gmt":"2023-02-09T16:50:01","slug":"blue-origin-wins-an-order-from-nasa-for-launch-of-mars-magnetosphere-mission","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/blue-origin-wins-an-order-from-nasa-for-launch-of-mars-magnetosphere-mission\/","title":{"rendered":"Blue Origin wins an order from NASA for launch of Mars magnetosphere mission"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full-width\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"630\" height=\"404\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/230209-escapade1-630x404.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-752961\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/230209-escapade1-630x404.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/230209-escapade1-1260x807.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/230209-escapade1-768x492.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/230209-escapade1-1536x984.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/230209-escapade1-2048x1313.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" class=\"wp-element-caption\">An artist\u2019s conception shows ESCAPADE probes at Mars. (Rocket Lab \/ UC-Berkeley Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture has won its first NASA order for a New Glenn rocket launch, with Mars as the mission\u2019s ultimate destination.<\/p>\n<p>The task order calls on Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin to provide launch service for NASA\u2019s Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or ESCAPADE, as part of the space agency\u2019s Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare program, also known as VADR.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin\u2019s New Glenn rocket, which is currently still under development, would be tasked with sending two robotic probes spaceward from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida in late 2024. <\/p>\n<p>The twin ESCAPADE spacecraft would study how Mars\u2019 weak magnetosphere interacts with the solar wind, and how energy and plasma enter and leave the magnetosphere. The cruise to Mars would take about 11 months, followed by several months of orbital adjustments in preparation for the science mission.<\/p>\n<p>Learning about Mars\u2019 magnetosphere would provide a new perspective on space weather, on strategies for protecting astronauts from space storms \u2014 and potentially on the evolution of the Red Planet\u2019s climate. Scientists say Mars lost much of its atmosphere and became less hospitable for life because it didn\u2019t have a strong magnetosphere to protect it from the stripping-away effect of the solar wind.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"New Glenn: Building the Road to Space\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/5ukGXfH-eyg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California at Berkeley is leading the mission on NASA\u2019s behalf. Rocket Lab USA is in charge of designing and building two of its Photon spacecraft, each about the size of a mini-fridge, for ESCAPADE.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cESCAPADE follows a long tradition of NASA Mars science and exploration missions, and we\u2019re thrilled NASA\u2019s Launch Services Program has selected New Glenn to launch the instruments that will study Mars\u2019 magnetosphere,\u201d Jarrett Jones, Blue Origin\u2019s senior vice president for the New Glenn program, said in a news release.<\/p>\n<p>NASA is allocating $300 million over five years\u2019 time for contracts with VADR\u2019s approved launch providers. Blue Origin is among 13 providers on the list.<\/p>\n<p>Blue Origin\u2019s orbital-class New Glenn rocket is being built and tested at the company\u2019s facilities on Florida\u2019s Space Coast. Its debut has faced several postponements, but the first launch is expected sometime this year. Blue Origin has built up a backlog of New Glenn launch commitments over the course of six years.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Update for 11:55 a.m. PT Feb. 10:<\/strong> Neither NASA nor Blue Origin listed the value of the launch contract, but Space News gleaned that information from a federal procurement database. Total value of the contract is $20 million, with $6 million obligated to date. Space News quoted a paper prepared for last year\u2019s Lunar and Planetary Science Conference as saying the total budget for the ESCAPADE mission is $78.5 million, including launch costs and project reserves.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows ESCAPADE probes at Mars. (Rocket Lab \/ UC-Berkeley Illustration) Jeff Bezos\u2019 Blue Origin space venture has won its first NASA order for a New Glenn rocket launch, with Mars as the mission\u2019s ultimate destination. The task order calls on Kent, Wash.-based Blue Origin to provide launch service for NASA\u2019s Escape and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[509,922,367,190,510],"class_list":["post-17316","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-blue-origin","tag-escapade","tag-mars","tag-nasa","tag-new-glenn"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17316"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17316"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17316\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}