NASA’s upcoming Mars smallsat mission, ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers), has a new tentative launch window after being bumped from the inaugural flight of Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket. According to NASA’s fiscal year 2026 budget proposal released May 30, ESCAPADE is now targeting a ride aboard the second New Glenn launch, scheduled no earlier than July 2025.
An artist's concept shows one ESCAPADE spacecraft above Mars. Credt:James Rattray/Rocket Lab USA
The update marks the first official confirmation of the mission’s revised launch plan following delays in New Glenn’s development. “Due to delays in the development schedule of the Blue Origin New Glenn launch vehicle, NASA is in the process of establishing an updated schedule and cost profile to enable this mission to ride on the second launch of New Glenn,” the budget document states. The mission’s new launch readiness date falls in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2025, which spans July through September.
Originally slated to launch in October 2024 on New Glenn’s debut flight (NG-1), ESCAPADE was removed from the manifest in September 2024 after it became clear the rocket would not be ready before the narrow launch window closed. New Glenn eventually launched successfully in January 2025, but without the Mars-bound payload.
Since then, mission planners have explored new trajectories that would allow ESCAPADE to launch in either 2025 or 2026, with the spacecraft arriving at Mars in September 2027. “We’re in conversations with [NASA] Headquarters all the time to iron this one out,” said Shannon Curry, a member of the ESCAPADE science team, during a May 1 meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group.
When asked about possible alternative launch options, Curry deferred to NASA. On May 6, the agency confirmed that it was still working with Blue Origin to fly ESCAPADE on New Glenn, with a launch window stretching from summer 2025 through spring 2026.
NASA reiterated that timeline in a June 5 statement: “Blue Origin is managing the launch for ESCAPADE and we’re continuing to work with them on the launch date. The date in our technical supplement is the current no earlier date when Blue Origin will be ready to launch ESCAPADE on New Glenn.”
Blue Origin has not issued recent public updates on the second launch of New Glenn. Company CEO Dave Limp said in February that the flight was expected in late spring 2025 and could carry a variety of potential payloads. If no customer payloads are ready, he added, the company would consider launching a mass simulator instead.
However, a May filing with the Federal Communications Commission suggests that a launch before July 1 is unlikely. The filing requests spectrum usage approvals for ground testing and the launch itself, with activities beginning no earlier than July.
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