The spacecraft completed powered flybys on 7 November and 9, 2026, setting them on a 10-month cruise toward planned Mars orbit insertions on 7 September and 9, 2027.
Sole source: NASA’s two ESCAPADE spacecraft have completed powered flybys of Earth, combining the planet’s gravity with engine burns to put them on course for Mars, the agency said. NASA said they had spent nearly a year on a route near Earth after launching on 13 November 2025, when Earth and Mars were on opposite sides of the Sun. The agency plans Mars orbit insertion burns for 7 and 9 September 2027, after a 10-month cruise.
NASA said that, rather than travel directly to Mars, the spacecraft entered a kidney-bean-shaped loiter orbit around a gravitational balancing point known as Sun–Earth Lagrange point 2, about a million miles from Earth on the side opposite the Sun. Their route brought them back toward Earth for the flybys once the planets were favorably aligned.
| Spacecraft | Close approach and engine burn | Altitude above Earth |
|---|---|---|
| First | 7 November 2026, 05:00 EST (14:00 Yerevan time) | About 1,000 miles |
| Second | 9 November 2026, 06:00 EST (15:00 Yerevan time) | About 650 miles |
NASA said the first spacecraft’s burn lasted approximately 9 minutes. During their loiter orbit, both spacecraft also made observations as they passed repeatedly through Earth’s magnetotail, the part of its magnetic environment stretched away from the Sun by the solar wind.
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