NASA has decided the two ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft planned to be launched on the maiden flight of Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket will not be fueled and will instead take a ride to Mars next year. Maybe.

While the news was almost buried beneath the airbags of another commercial whoopsie - the uncrewed return of Boeing's Starliner - the decision not to fuel the ESCAPADE spacecraft carries with it the whiff of inevitability.

The main problem, according to NASA, is the challenge of de-fueling the spacecraft in the event of a launch delay. The launch window is already very tight - a no earlier than October 13 date had been set - and everything would have needed to go right at Blue Origin in order for New Glenn to have sent ESCAPADE to Mars as originally planned.

It appears NASA blinked first and has called off launch preparations for the ESCAPADE spacecraft.

Bradley Smith, launch services office director at NASA Headquarters, said: "This is an important mission for NASA, and it's critical we have sufficient margin in our prelaunch work to ensure we are ready to fly a tight planetary window."

New Glenn slips on Blue Ring

Blue Origin will continue to prepare the first New Glenn for launch as planned, yet will instead carry Blue Ring technology. The company also said it would move the second New Glenn flight, originally scheduled for December, into November.

Blue Ring is a proposed orbital tug spacecraft capable of providing data relay and refueling services and hosting payloads of up to 3,000 kg.

Committing the first launch of a new rocket to a mission with a specific window always seemed a bit impractical, and NASA's decision has allowed for some flexibility at Blue Origin.

The delay might also be a short one; while the most efficient transfer window to Mars opens roughly every two years, engineers are mulling over an alternative trajectory that would have ESCAPADE launching in the (northern hemisphere) Spring of 2025, although it has yet to be confirmed what that would do the ESCAPADE's arrival date.

Consisting of twin spacecraft, the ESCAPADE mission is to study how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment.

Nicky Fox, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said, "We're committed to seeing ESCAPADE safely into space, and I look forward to seeing it off the ground and on its trip to Mars." ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/09/09/blue_origin_escapade_launhc_called_off/