NASA is launching a mission to Mars to study atmospheric loss

• EscaPADE will investigate the reasons for atmospheric loss on Mars.
• The mission launch will take place on November 10, 2025.
• The mission's estimated cost is around 70-80 million dollars.

NASA plans to launch the EscaPADE mission, which includes two satellites that will study why Mars is losing its atmosphere. The launch will take place on November 10, 2025, from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a Blue Origin New Glenn rocket.

The EscaPADE mission, which stands for Escape and Plasma Acceleration Dynamics Explorers, will be the first dual-satellite project aimed at studying the Martian magnetosphere and upper atmosphere. The satellites will be named Zoloto and Syniy in honor of the colors of the California University in Berkeley, where the project is being developed.

The planned launch will be the first for the new New Glenn rocket, which has significant payload capacity and is designed for heavy lifting into orbit. The satellites will follow a unique trajectory, starting from the Lagrange point and then heading to Mars, allowing them to gather data efficiently.

The mission aims to study how solar wind interacts with the Martian atmosphere and how this affects the planet's surface. Researchers hope that the results of the studies will help understand how to protect Earth from potential threats.

The total estimated cost of the mission is around 70-80 million dollars, which is significantly lower than previous NASA projects. Researchers believe that the success of EscaPADE could be an important step in the development of future missions for planetary exploration.

Tags: Technology/Space