Rocket Lab Delivers Spacecraft for NASA’s Mars Mission

Aerospace company Rocket Lab has successfully delivered two Explorer-class spacecraft to NASA's Kennedy Space Center for the EscaPADE mission. The spacecraft, developed in collaboration with UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory, will undergo final preparations before their journey to Mars. Blue and Gold, as the twin probes are named, aim to study the interaction between Mars' magnetosphere and atmosphere—a critical piece in understanding the planet's atmospheric loss.

Rocket Lab completed the design, construction, and testing phases in just three and a half years, a notably accelerated timeline for interplanetary missions. The company attributes this efficiency to its vertically integrated manufacturing capabilities. After a 22-month transit, the probes will separate into distinct orbits to simultaneously capture multi-point data on Martian space weather.