NASA selects New Glenn Aviation for a science mission to Mars

NASA is targeting a launch for the mission in late 2024, which means we won’t have to wait long to finally see New Glenn in action, if the Jeff Bezos-owned aerospace company can prevent further development delays.

New Glenn is the company’s answer to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and other vehicles, and Blue Origin initially targeted a 2020 date for its first launch, and NASA approved future uncrewed science and exploration missions that year — but the event It kept getting delayed, and it was moved to 2021 and then to 2022.

By the end of March last year, Jarrett Jones, senior vice president of Blue Origin, admitted to Newglin that the car would not fly for the first time in 2022 and that the company was in the process of setting a new date.

NASA awarded Blue Origin the ESCAPADE contract under the Venture of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) Class Acquisition Program, which is designed to fuel the growth of commercial launch services in the United States. The agency intends to use launch vehicles from program participants specifically for “small satellites and class payloads.” D” which can carry a higher risk.

In other words, VADR contracts are for low-cost missions. “Using a lower level of mission assurance, and commercial best practices for rocket launches, these highly flexible contracts help expand access to space through lower launch costs,” NASA said in announcing New Glenn’s selection. .

The ESCAPADE mission will launch from Space Launch Complex-36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, and the mission will take about 11 months to reach the red planet.

After that, it will take a few more months for the twin spacecraft to reach the ideal orbit to collect information about the Martian magnetosphere, and the data it will provide can help give scientists a better understanding of space weather, so that safeguards can be put in place to better protect astronauts and satellites in Our continued exploration of outer space.