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NASA's ESCAPADE Spacecraft Complete Earth Flyby Maneuvers En Route to Mars

Updated 8:01 AM ET · 11:22 AM ETConfirmedShare via:          

Science Desk

In Short: NASA's twin ESCAPADE spacecraft have completed powered Earth flyby maneuvers, propelling them toward Mars in 2027.

NASA's twin ESCAPADE spacecraft, Blue and Gold, have successfully executed powered Earth flyby maneuvers, propelling them toward Mars. The spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Nov. 13, 2025, when Earth and Mars were on opposite sides of the Sun.

On November 7 and 9, 2026, ESCAPADE Blue and Gold, respectively, performed their flyby maneuvers at altitudes of 938 km and 731 km, executing a 9-minute engine burn to gain extra speed, known as the Oberth maneuver. This technique, named after physicist Hermann Oberth, involves using Earth's gravity in combination with a sustained engine burn to slingshot the spacecraft toward Mars.

They will fly in formation in orbit around Mars to map its magnetic fields, upper atmosphere, and ionosphere. This method provides the flexibility to launch almost anytime and then use Earth’s gravity to get a boost to Mars, rather than waiting every two years when the planets are aligned.

Asal Naseri, acting associate flight director for the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters, stated, “This is the first time NASA has used a powered Earth flyby to propel a spacecraft toward Mars, and we’ve now executed this maneuver twice, flawlessly, in just two days.”

During the flyby, each spacecraft's onboard engine pushed its speed from roughly 6.3 miles per second to approximately 6.7 miles per second, an increase of more than 1,000 miles per hour, from about Mach 30 to about Mach 31. This maneuver is formally called an Oberth maneuver, named for physicist Hermann Oberth, who first described it in his 1927 book Wege zur Raumschiffahrt.

The ESCAPADE mission's formation flying will enable scientists to study the Martian environment from multiple vantage points simultaneously, providing a more comprehensive understanding of the planet's dynamics. This approach is particularly useful for studying Mars's magnetic fields, which are patchy and localized, making it difficult to determine if observed changes are due to changes in these interactions or changes in the spacecraft's position.

Rob Lillis, ESCAPADE’s principal investigator and associate director for planetary science at the Space Sciences Laboratory, expressed his team's excitement: “Our fantastic operations team at the Berkeley Space Sciences Lab put 110% into this critical maneuver, getting the spacecraft ready and watching like hawks for potential issues. We’re excited to now focus on our interplanetary journey. Onward, to Mars!”

Background

What's confirmed

• The two ESCAPADE spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida on Nov. 13, 2025, when Earth and Mars were on opposite sides of the Sun.
• Then they headed back toward Earth to perform this gravitational slingshot maneuver around our planet once Earth and Mars were favorably aligned.
• “This is the first time NASA has used a powered Earth flyby to propel a spacecraft toward Mars, and we’ve now executed this maneuver twice, flawlessly, in just two days,” said Asal Naseri, acting associate flight director for the Heliophysics Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
• NASA’s two ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) spacecraft have each successfully completed a powered Earth flyby, using Earth’s gravity in combination with a sustained engine burn to slingshot themselves toward Mars.
• “Our fantastic operations team at the Berkeley Space Sciences Lab put 110% into this critical maneuver, getting the spacecraft ready and watching like hawks for potential issues. We’re excited to now focus on our interplanetary journey. Onward, to Mars!” said Rob Lillis, ESCAPADE’s principal investigator and associate director for planetary science at the Space Sciences Laboratory.

What's still developing

• Traditionally, missions to Mars follow a strictly timed protocol, capitalizing on a planetary alignment that occurs every 26 months.
• NASA, in a recent update, announced the completion of historic Earth flybys of its twin spacecraft from the ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission.
• Though its global magnetosphere is long gone, Mars still has patches of magnetic fields called crustal magnetic fields, or remnant magnetic fields.
• Image credit: Advanced Space At the spacecraft’s closest approach to Earth, it also will perform a “trans-Mars injection burn,” firing its engine for about 9 minutes to give itself an extra boost toward the Red Planet.
• NASA’s Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope is gliding toward its distant observation post on a pinpoint trajectory so precise that engineers estimate the spacecraft’s fuel load will last twice as long as their initial expectations, the space agency confirmed Monday.
• “According to current projections, both maneuvers will use less fuel than planned, potentially saving even more for future science,” NASA said.
• During one such flyby in 2021, the spacecraft captured some photographs of the surface from just 199 kilometers (123 miles) away.

Sources

• Daily Koslink
• NASAlink
• SSBCracklink
• Space.comlink
• Starlust.orglink
• Tech Timeslink
• The Daily Galaxylink
• Universe Todaylink
• University of California, Berkeleylink
• Warpbeatlink
• Spacenewslink
• Leonarddavidlink
• Ars Technicalink
• Scientific Americanlink
• Shatteredlink
• WarpBeat — background on NASA's Twin ESCAPADE Spacecraft Complete Earth Flyby Maneuvers link
• HeyDay News — video link