The ESCAPADE mission, short for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, is the first dual-satellite mission to another planet. Two identical spacecraft will orbit in formation to provide a first-of-its-kind 3D view of Mars' magnetosphere and upper atmosphere.

A NASA mission will send twin spacecraft to Mars to learn what happened to the Red Planet's ancient, thick atmosphere.

Satellite components developed in Auckland will soon be on their way to Mars as part of Nasa’s “Escapade” mission.

ESCAPADE’s path through space, relative to the Earth, has the peculiar shape of a kidney bean. In the world of astrodynamics, this is called a staging or libration orbit. It’s a way to keep the spacecraft on a stable trajectory to wait for the opportunity to go to Mars late next year.

ESCAPADE is overseen by the University of California Berkeley, who named the spacecraft’s onboard satellites Blue and Gold after the school’s colors. In addition to its primary objectives, the spacecraft will be the first to reach Mars using a new trajectory path.

President Donald Trump’s NASA pick Jared Isaacman has proposed to launch an uncrewed mission to Mars as early as next year, echoing the administration’s vision. Privately, he has cited Elon Musk’s SpaceX as one company that could do the job,

With "one of the coolest jobs in the world", NASA rover operator Vandi Verma hopes women's high profile in the latest Mars mission will inspire a new generation to pursue careers in a sector traditionally dominated by men.

New images of the interstellar object, 3I/ATLAS, shows its nucleus and a surrounding coma with a diameter reaching several thousand kilometers