Preparations for the second-ever launch of Blue Origin’s powerful New Glenn rocket are underway on Florida’s Space Coast, as NASA’s twin ESCAPADE probes await their mission to Mars.
Blue Origin had originally targeted no earlier than Sept. 29 for the second New Glenn launch, designated NG-2, but now says the mission is slated for NET mid-October. The rocket’s ESCAPADE payload is awaiting vehicle integration at Blue Origin’s Astrotech Space Operations Facility in Titusville, Florida, while New Glenn’s first stage (GS1) booster is prepped for an engine test at Launch Complex-36 (LC-36).
“ESCAPADE is at Astrotech and GS1 is headed to LC-36 in early October. Next up is the vehicle hotfire mid-month with launch soon thereafter,” Blue Origin wrote in a post on social media.
NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) probes have been patiently waiting their turn for a ride to space for more than a year. The pair was slated to launch as a part of New Glenn’s debut mission, but NASA ended up deciding not to risk its next flight to Mars on an unproven rocket.
The twin satellites were built by California-based Rocket Lab, and will be operated by the University of California’s Space Sciences Laboratory once they reach orbit.
Satisfied with Blue Origin’s results from New Glenn’s first liftoff, ESCAPADE was added back to the manifest and assigned as the rocket’s second mission.
It’s a high profile project for New Glenn, and is indicative of the level of confidence NASA has in the launch vehicle. The $80 million ESCAPADE mission will be New Glenn’s first interplanetary launch and is headed to Mars orbit. There, the probes will study the planet’s magnetosphere and analyze how energetic solar wind particles interact with the Martian atmosphere.
New Glenn’s first launch successfully delivered a test version of Blue Origin’s Blue Ring satellite bus to Earth orbit, but failed to recover the rocket’s nearly 189-foot-tall (58-meter-tall) first stage booster during its landing attempt on a barge in the Atlantic Ocean. Blue Origin plans to attempt a recovery the GS1 booster as part of the upcoming launch as well.
NG-2 will also carry a secondary payload. Satellite communications company Viasat is flying a technology demonstration as a part of NASA’s Communications Services Project, which partners with the commercial sector to evolve networking technologies for near-Earth satellites.