Jeff Bezos’ space company Blue Origin has launched its New Glenn rocket into orbit around the Earth, carrying two NASA spacecraft on a mission that could shed much-needed new light on Mars for scientists.
While New Glenn had previously flown on a successful test mission, the current mission – which includes NASA’s ESCAPADE twin spacecraft – marks its first delivery of an actual operational payload and will become the first coordinated dual-spacecraft mission to orbit another planet.
“The ESCAPADE spacecraft are now about to embark on a unique journey to Mars never traversed by any other mission,” remarked Alan Zide, ESCAPADE program executive at NASA Headquarters.
The Blue Origin rocket started its journey to Mars on November 13, 2025, at 15:55 local time EST, launching from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, as announced by both NASA and Jeff Bezos’ space company on the day of the launch.
After liftoff, New Glenn successfully deployed NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft into their planned orbit and landed its reusable first-stage booster on the drone ship Jacklyn in the Atlantic Ocean.
According to NASA, the two identical spacecraft will explore how Mars’ magnetic environment is influenced by the Sun, studying in real time the effects of solar wind and solar storms on the Red Planet.
This will provide insights about Martian space weather and help NASA better understand the conditions astronauts will face when they reach Mars.
NASA’s ESCAPADE mission, our next science mission to Mars, has a new launch date: today! The launch window opens at 2:57 p.m. EST.
Yesterday’s launch attempt was postponed due to the intense geomagnetic storm that rocked our planet.
Learn more: https://t.co/ES4OWcpVKh pic.twitter.com/yKjKMRVt3F
— NASA Solar System (@NASASolarSystem) November 13, 2025
The ESCAPADE spacecraft are currently orbiting Earth and will start their trip to Mars in the autumn of 2026. Rather than heading there directly, they are waiting for the planets to reach the ideal alignment for the journey between them.
NASA scientists estimated that this alignment will occur in November 2026, allowing Earth and Mars to be sufficiently close to each other in their orbits. ESCAPADE is expected to reach the Red Planet and begin its research by September 2027.
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