ESCAPADE Timeline
Instruments Come Together!
It’s Instrument Suite I&T! Instrument teams are hard at work assembling, testing, disassembling, cleaning, retesting. Here’s EESA-e instrument lead Phyllis Whittlesey hard at work.
Critical Design Review
After some challenges over the summer following changing the separation and propulsion systems, the team at UCB and RL completed a successful CDR. From the Independent Review Board:
The Escapade independent Mission CDR demonstrated stunning progress since the Spacecraft CDR in June. All the actions from SCDR were addressed. The entire independent review board, as well as the NASA reviewers, were impressed with the professionality and thoroughness of the presentation at this MCDR. This was a fantastic review!
New Propulsion System
New Zealand COVID delays impacted qualification schedule of original system; inadequate time remained to resolve issues found.
Replaced with off-the-shelf solution from Arianne Space.
New design brought up to CDR maturity, peer reviewed
ESCAPADE confirmation
ESCAPADE passes its KDP-C on August 17, 2021, with a new target launch readiness date of May 2024.
Rocket Lab Selected as ESCAPADE Spacecraft Contractor
Press Release: Space company Rocket Lab plans to build new Mars spacecraft
The University of California-Berkeley has chosen California-based space company Rocket Lab to build two spacecraft for one of the least expensive interplanetary missions in history, a scientific investigation of the Martian magnetosphere. Read more.
System Requirements Review
Before we realized EESA had to be body-mounted
ESCAPADE selection
NASA Planetary Director Lori Glaze calls Rob: ESCAPADE has been selected for Phase A/B study!
Rob looking goofy in promo video.
MISEN concept proposal submitted to Planetary Science Deep Space Smallsat Program
MISEN Cubesat Concept & sample orbits