The recent launch by Blue Origin, using its huge New Glenn heavy-lift rocket, was a complete success, carrying NASA’s twin orbiters destined for Mars.
It marks the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos’ company and NASA plan to use to get people and supplies to the moon.
However, the 321-foot (98-meter) New Glenn soared into the afternoon sky from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, while sending NASA’s twin Mars orbiters on a prolonged expedition to the red planet.
It was accompanied by the solar storms strong enough to illuminate the skies with auroras as far south as Florida.
The maiden flight of New Glenn’s in January provided an engineering model of a spacecraft to orbit, but failed to land its booster on the platform in the Atlantic.
The identical Mars orbiters, primarily named Escapade, will spend a year approaching the planet, positioning themselves 1 million miles away.
The moment Earth and Mars are in line, the duo will get a gravitational slingshot from Earth to head to the red planet, arriving in 2027.
The spacecraft will map the planet’s upper atmosphere and dispersed magnetic fields once it is in orbit around Mars, and further study how these realms interact with the solar wind.
The following observations should clarify the processes behind the escaping Martian atmosphere, and help us understand how the planet went from wet and warm to dry and dusty.
However, scientists will also learn how to protect astronauts against Mars' high radiation environment.
In this connection, Escapade’s lead scientist, Rob Lilis of the University of California, Berkely, said, “Escapade is going to bring an unprecedented stereo viewpoint because we’re going to have two spacecraft at the same time.”
The New Glenn rocket, named after the first American to orbit the world, is five times bigger than the New Shepard rockets sending affluent clients to the edge of space from West Texas.
It is expected that Blue Origin plans to launch a prototype Blue Moon lunar lander on a trial project in the coming months aboard New Glenn.
NASA seeks to send astronauts around the moon early next year using its own Space Launch System, or SLS, rocket. This recent launch by Blue Origin culminates a key technical challenge for the company.
Additionally, the two-year scientific journey will ultimately inform the future of human exploration of the Red Planet.
The space agency is compelled to get astronauts back on the lunar surface by decade’s end because it aims to surpass China.