A dazzling display of auroras across the globe has a downside: it’s delaying humanity’s next trip to Mars. A pair of spacecraft destined for the Red Planet, NASA’s twin ESCAPADE missions, are grounded due to heightened solar activity. This unfortunate turn of events comes on top of earlier delays and adds another layer of complexity to space exploration.
Originally slated to launch aboard Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket this afternoon (November 12), the ESCAPADE mission has been pushed back indefinitely. “Due to highly elevated solar activity and its potential effects on the ESCAPADE spacecraft, NASA is postponing launch until space weather conditions improve,” Blue Origin officials stated on social media platform X.
This delay further compounds a string of setbacks already faced by this ambitious project. Initial hopes for an October 2024 liftoff were stymied by technical issues and scheduling conflicts. A prior attempt on November 9th was also aborted due to weather conditions on Earth. The current hold is directly linked to the sun, which recently erupted with a surge of activity — releasing massive plumes of charged particles known as coronal mass ejections. These energetic clouds can disrupt satellite operations and power grids here on Earth, triggering spectacular auroras when they interact with our planet’s atmosphere.
Ironically, the ESCAPADE mission was designed to study precisely this phenomenon: how solar wind, a continuous stream of charged particles from the sun, and these powerful coronal mass ejections stripped away much of Mars’ ancient atmosphere billions of years ago. This atmospheric loss is believed to be pivotal in explaining why Mars transitioned from a potentially habitable world with flowing water to the frigid desert planet it is today.
Beyond its scientific goals, the ESCAPADE mission also carries another payload: a telemetry communications experiment for Viasat contracted by NASA’s Communications Services Project.
This launch attempt further underscores the delicate dance between human ambition and the often unpredictable forces of nature. The New Glenn rocket itself — standing at an imposing 321 feet (98 meters) tall — is still relatively new to spaceflight. Its inaugural mission in January ended with a disappointing failure when its reusable first stage couldn’t land on its designated ocean barge, effectively ending any chance for recovery.
Despite these setbacks, Blue Origin continues to develop New Glenn as a vital tool for both near-future Mars exploration and its long-term ambition: establishing a lunar presence with its yet-to-fly Blue Moon lander.
