Long Beach HQ'd Rocket Lab Gets Contract To Design Two Spacecraft For Scientific Mission To Mars

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(June 16, 2021) -- Long Beach headquartered Rocket Lab (3881 McGowen St in ELB's Douglas Park) has been awarded a contract to design two spacecraft for a scientific mission to Mars.

"Following an 11-month interplanetary cruise, the two Photons (named Blue and Gold) will insert themselves into elliptical orbits around Mars and conduct a 1-year primary science mission," said Rocket Lab in a release. The "Photons will use the flight-proven Curie propulsion system to perform Mars orbit insertion and will be equipped with other subsystems that enable planetary science, including star trackers and reaction wheels for precision pointing from Rocket Lab’s Sinclair Interplanetary team, as well as ranging transceivers for deep space navigation."

In its release, the firm says:

The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission, led by Rob Lillis at the University of California, Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory, is a twin-spacecraft science mission...to understand the structure, composition, variability, and dynamics of Mars' unique hybrid magnetosphere. The mission will leverage its unique dual viewpoint on the Mars environment to explore how the solar wind strips atmosphere away from Mars to better understand how its climate has changed over time.
ESCAPADE is being developed under NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program in the Science Mission Directorate (SMD). The two spacecraft are planned for launch in 2024 to Mars ridesharing aboard a NASA-provided commercial launch vehicle...
ESCAPADE is one of three missions selected in 2019 by NASA's SIMPLEx program to conduct compelling planetary science and provide more opportunities for flight experience to the science community. ESCAPADE will undergo a NASA preliminary design review in June and a confirmation review in July determining whether the mission proceeds to implementation and flight.

Rocket Lab designs and manufactures the Electron and Neutron launch vehicles, Photon satellite platform and a range of spacecraft components. The firm has delivered more than 100 satellites since 2018 to orbit for government and commercial customers.

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