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Rocket Lab takes one step closer to Mars with NASA approval of the company’s Photon spacecraft for an upcoming science mission. If all goes as planned, the two machines will be launched in 2024 and will arrive on the red planet 11 months later to study its magnetosphere.
The mission is known as Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or ESCAPADE (hats off to whoever devised it), and was offered for a small science satellite program in 2019, before being ultimately chosen as a finalist. UC Berkeley researchers are the main force behind the science side.
These satellites are to weigh less than 180 kilograms (about 400 pounds) and are to perform autonomous science missions, as part of a new program aimed at lighter, shorter missions that can be performed with strong commercial collaboration with industry. . A few concepts have sprouted since the program’s original announcement, and ESCAPADE has just passed key decision point C, which means it’s ready to move from concept to reality.
This particular mission is actually a pair of satellites, an advantage that undoubtedly contributed to its successful selection. Rocket Lab’s intention with the Photon program is to provide a more or less turnkey design for various space operations, from orbital work to interplanetary science missions like this.
Interestingly, Rocket Lab won’t actually launch the mission aboard one of its Electron rockets – the satellites will be aboard a “NASA-supplied commercial launch vehicle,” which is up to them. Maybe by then the company will be up for the contract, but for now, Rocket Lab is only building the spacecraft, including most of the non-science onboard components: navigation, orientation, propulsion. , etc.
“GETAWAY is an innovative mission that demonstrates that advanced interplanetary science is now within reach at a fraction of traditional costs, and we are proud to make this possible with Photon. We are delighted to receive the green light from NASA to proceed with the flight, ”said Peter Beck, founder and CEO of Rocket Lab, during the company’s announcement of the step.
Rocket Lab is already under contract to raise a CubeSat into cislunar orbit for Artemis purposes, and has entered into an agreement with Varda Space Industries to build that company’s spacecraft, for launch in 2023 and 2024.
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