Bezos’ Boeing moment: NASA postpones upcoming Mars mission due to Blue Origin rocket issues

Jeff Bezos’ plans to launch two Blue Origin space probes to Mars next month have been canceled by NASA.

The small spacecraft Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE) was scheduled to launch aboard New Glenn sometime between October 13 and 21. This would also have been the rocket’s maiden flight.

But NASA appears unconvinced that New Glenn, Blue Origin’s partially reusable heavy-lift rocket that will launch the probes, will be ready for launch by then.

Just over a month before launch, NASA officials paused preparations for the $80 million mission “to avoid significant cost, schedule and technical challenges” that would have been associated with having to remove fuel from the EscaPADE spacecraft in the event of a launch delay.

According to NASA, the mission will not launch until spring 2025.

“We support NASA’s decision to schedule the EscaPADE mission no earlier than spring 2025 and look forward to the flight,” Blue Origin wrote in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.

Blue Origin has been developing the New Glenn rocket since 2013. The first flight was originally scheduled for 2020. However, the launch was delayed for several years, mainly due to the need for extensive engine testing and redesign.

In total, Blue Origin spent at least $2.5 billion on the development of this rocket.

This year, it looked like New Glenn would finally get off the ground with the launch of the EscaPADE mission. But now that mission has been delayed until at least next spring.

But New Glenn could fly before the end of the year, just not with the EscaPADE spacecraft on board.

Blue Origin has rescheduled the second flight of New Glenn to November. The mission was originally scheduled for launch in December and will deliver technology for the company’s Blue Ring orbital platform into space.

Blue Ring is the company’s new spacecraft platform designed to provide “in-space logistics and delivery,” Blue Origin wrote in a proposition.

Even if all goes well with the launch, New Glenn will still not be ready to support the EscaPADE mission to Mars.

Jeff Bezos has spent at least $2.5 billion and more than a decade developing his New Glenn rocket

The October launch of NASA’s EscaPADE mission would have been New Glenn’s first test flight. Now Blue Origin hopes to launch the rocket on another mission in November

EscaPADE will use two identical spacecraft, Blue and Gold, to study the interactions between the solar wind and the magnetic environment of Mars and how these interactions cause the planet’s “atmospheric escape,” or the loss of atmospheric gases into space.

“This mission can help us study the atmosphere of Mars — important information as we venture farther into our solar system and need to protect astronauts and spacecraft from space weather,” Nicky Fox, deputy science director at NASA Headquarters, said in an interview with NASA. proposition.

NASA chose not to fuel the two EscaPADE spacecraft, primarily because removing the fuel would be expensive in the event of a launch delay.

Furthermore, this mission can only be launched in a short time frame when Earth and Mars are aligned.

“This means that small changes to the schedule could result in months of launch delays,” NASA said.

The mission team is currently analyzing larger launch windows, including the possibility of launching EscaPADE in spring 2025.

“This is an important mission for NASA and it is critical that we have sufficient margin in our pre-launch work so that we are ready for a tight planetary window,” said Bradley Smith, director of the Launch Services Office at NASA Headquarters.

But even that revised launch date appears too early, since Earth and Mars align only about once every 26 months, NASA said.

While the mission could be significantly delayed, it appears this is merely a hurdle for EscaPADE, as NASA and Blue Origin work to get these spacecraft – and New Glenn – off the ground as quickly as possible.

“We are eager to get EscaPADE into space safely and I look forward to seeing it get off the ground and travel to Mars,” Fox said.