NASA has chosen Blue Origin’s New Glenn, the corporate’s heavy-lift orbital launch automobile that has but to go on its first launch, for a science mission to Mars. As Reuters notes, it is also the corporate’s first interplanetary NASA contract. The mission is known as Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers or ESCAPADE, and it was designed to review the planet’s magnetosphere utilizing twin spacecraft. NASA is focusing on a late 2024 launch for the mission, which suggests we can’t have to attend too lengthy to lastly see the New Glenn in motion — if the Jeff Bezos-owned house corp can forestall additional growth delays, that’s.

The New Glenn automobile is the corporate’s reply to SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy and different firm’s heavy-lift autos. Blue Origin initially focused a 2020 date for its first launch — and NASA accepted it for future unmanned scientific and exploration missions that yr — however the occasion stored getting pushed again. It was moved to 2021 after which to 2022. By the top of March final yr, Jarrett Jones, Blue Origin’s SVP for New Glenn, admitted that the automobile wasn’t going to fly for the primary time in 2022 and that the corporate was within the means of setting a brand new date. 

NASA has granted Blue Origin the contract for ESCAPADE underneath the Enterprise-Class Acquisition of Devoted and Rideshare (VADR) program, which was designed to foster the expansion of economic launch providers within the US. The company intends to make use of launch autos from program contributors particularly for “small satellites and Class D payloads” that may tolerate increased threat. In different phrases, VADR contracts are meant for lower-cost missions. “Through the use of a decrease stage of mission assurance, and industrial finest practices for launching rockets, these extremely versatile contracts assist broaden entry to house via decrease launch prices,” NASA mentioned in its announcement of New Glenn’s choice. 

The ESCAPADE mission will launch from House Launch Advanced-36 at Cape Canaveral House Pressure Station in Florida. It’s going to take about 11 months for the mission to succeed in the pink planet. After that, it’ll take a number of extra months for the dual spacecraft to succeed in the orbit perfect for gathering details about the Martian magnetosphere. The information it’ll present may also help give scientists a greater understanding of house climate, in order that safeguards may very well be put in place to higher defend astronauts and satellites in our continued exploration of outer house.