NASA’s ESCAPADE is the first UC Berkeley-led planetary mission. Its two identical satellites, Blue and Gold, will provide an unprecedented stereo view of Mars’ magnetosphere. ESCAPADE will map the ionosphere and space environment to understand how transfer of solar wind energy and momentum through Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere drives atmospheric loss.
Research from the ESCAPADE team will help safeguard future astronaut communication and survival on the planet. The mission will pioneer a new trajectory to Mars that will be needed for future human exploration if more spacecraft to Mars.
ESCAPADE builds on MAVEN’s legacy for a fraction of the cost (<$80 million).
ESCAPADE is led by the SSL, which is responsible for mission management, systems engineering, science leadership, navigation, operations, the electron & ion electrostatic analyzers, and science data processing and archiving.
