Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has won its first NASA contract for an interplanetary mission. The company plans to launch spacecraft to Mars with the New Glenn rocket at the end of next year. With the contract, NASA wants to accelerate the development of rockets.
Blue Origin has previously performed missions for NASA with the New Shepard rocket, but the Escapade contract will be the first NASA mission to use the New Glenn rocket announced in 2016. The Escapade mission consists of two identical spacecraft that will study the magnetosphere of Mars. The goal is to better understand how solar winds affect that magnetosphere and how energy and plasma leave the magnetosphere.
The mission is scheduled to launch from Florida’s Cape Canaveral in late 2024, with Escapade arriving at Mars 11 months later. After launch, the New Glenn rocket’s first stage must be reusable. The rocket is bigger than SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.
The Escapade contract is part of NASA’s Vadr plan, which involves using new rockets for payloads which may be associated with greater risks compared to other payloads. For example, NASA wants to speed up the development of new rockets and ultimately reduce the costs of launches.
