NASA officials say their Mars-bound ESCAPADE spacecraft has returned to Florida and is preparing for its scheduled launch this fall.
NASA's twin spacecraft, the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers mission, known as ESCAPADE, returned from California to Florida last Tuesday after NASA suspended its initial launch attempt last year, the U.S. space agency announced Monday.
ESCAPADE arrived in Titusville, Florida, at Astrotech Space Operations' facility, from NASA's Long Beach Rocket Laboratory in California.
In 2023, NASA commissioned private space company Blue Origin to launch a government-sanctioned mission to study the magnetosphere of Mars.
Both Mars orbiters are part of NASA's growing arsenal designed to expand life in space, following recent scientific discoveries of life on Mars.
NASA scientists say they will study the Martian magnetic field, its interaction with space weather, and “how this interaction controls the planet's atmospheric evaporation” on Mars.
NASA says data from the ESCAPADE spacecraft will allow scientists to “better protect” future human and robotic missions to the Red Planet.
NASA space officials added Monday that Rocket Lab engineers must complete checkouts and functional testing in Astrotech's cleanroom before loading propellant and performing other integration tasks as launch day approaches.
Meanwhile, the launch of ESCAPADE to Mars is not planned until the fall of this year.
Sourse: www.upi.com
