Rocket Lab has completed assembly and testing of two EscaPADE spacecraft. They will soon be delivered to Cape Canaveral and prepared for launch.
The ESCAPADE mission is implemented as part of the NASA-funded SIMPLEx (Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration) program, which involves the study of Solar System objects using small and relatively inexpensive interplanetary probes. Its target is Mars.
The Blue and Gold vehicles were built by Rocket Lab on the basis of the Explorer (Photon) space platform, which is a modified version of the Electron rocket booster. Their dimensions are 60 x 70 x 90 cm and their mass is 550 kg. The scientific stuffing is represented by three instruments — a magnetometer, a charged particle analyzer and a Langmuir probe.
Rocket Lab engineers recently completed the final checks on the probes. In August, they will be transported to Cape Canaveral, where they will be prepared for launch. Initially, the probes were planned to be launched to Mars as part of the cargo along with the Psyche mission. But after the flight trajectory was changed, NASA had to abandon this plan. Instead, the EscaPADE probes will be launched into space on a new New Glenn rocket being developed by Blue Origin. Its debut launch is scheduled for late September or early October.
According to Rocketlabusa.com
