{ "id": 5617, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5617/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "ESCAPADE Visits the Distant Magnetotail", "description": "Launched on Nov. 13, 2025, NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission will use two identical spacecraft to investigate how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape.", "release_date": "2026-02-26T10:30:00-05:00", "update_date": "2026-02-27T16:54:57.323903-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1202155, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005600/a005617/magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE_thumb.png", "filename": "magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE_thumb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This visualization shows a computer model of Earth's magnetotail evolving over the course of 8 hours, colored by temperature. The cyan trails show where the ESCAPADE spacecraft will be flying on March 4, 2026.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 }, "main_video": { "id": 1202153, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005600/a005617/magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE_1080p60.mp4", "filename": "magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE_1080p60.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "This visualization shows a computer model of Earth's magnetotail evolving over the course of 8 hours, colored by temperature. The cyan trails show where the ESCAPADE spacecraft will be flying on March 4, 2026.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 }, "main_credits": { "Visualizations by": [ { "name": "AJ Christensen", "employer": "ADNET Systems, Inc." } ], "Scientific consulting by": [ { "name": "Yusuke Ebihara", "employer": "Kyoto University" }, { "name": "Robert Lillis", "employer": "University of California, Berkeley" } ], "Written by": [ { "name": "Vanessa Thomas", "employer": "eMITS" } ], "Produced by": [ { "name": "Joy Ng", "employer": "eMITS" } ] }, "progress": "Complete", "media_groups": [ { "id": 379734, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5617/#media_group_379734", "widget": "Basic text", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "Launched on Nov. 13, 2025, NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission will use two identical spacecraft to investigate how the solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic environment and how this interaction drives the planet’s atmospheric escape.\r\n \r\nBut before heading to Mars, the twin ESCAPADE spacecraft are first passing through a distant part of Earth’s magnetotail, the part of our planet’s magnetic field that extends away from the Sun, pushed back by the stream of particles from the Sun known as the solar wind.\r\n \r\nThe two ESCAPADE spacecraft are the first to travel through this distant part of Earth’s magnetotail.\r\n \r\nThis visualization uses data collected by other spacecraft in the inner part of Earth's magnetotail, but we do not yet have measurements for the previously unexplored region of the magnetotail that ESCAPADE will fly through. Therefore, the distant part of the magnetotail that ESCAPADE will traverse does not appear in the visualization.", "items": [], "extra_data": {} }, { "id": 379735, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5617/#media_group_379735", "widget": "Video player", "title": "", "caption": "", "description": "This visualization shows a computer model of Earth's magnetotail evolving over the course of 8 hours, colored by temperature. The cyan trails show where the ESCAPADE spacecraft will be flying on March 4, 2026.", "items": [ { "id": 511052, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1202153, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005600/a005617/magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE_1080p60.mp4", "filename": "magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE_1080p60.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "This visualization shows a computer model of Earth's magnetotail evolving over the course of 8 hours, colored by temperature. The cyan trails show where the ESCAPADE spacecraft will be flying on March 4, 2026.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } }, { "id": 510955, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1202151, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005600/a005617/magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE.mp4", "filename": "magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE.mp4", "media_type": "Movie", "alt_text": "This visualization shows a computer model of Earth's magnetotail evolving over the course of 8 hours, colored by temperature. The cyan trails show where the ESCAPADE spacecraft will be flying on March 4, 2026.", "width": 3840, "height": 2160, "pixels": 8294400 } }, { "id": 511043, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1202152, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005600/a005617/frames/3840x2160_16x9_60p/magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE/", "filename": "magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE", "media_type": "Frames", "alt_text": "This visualization shows a computer model of Earth's magnetotail evolving over the course of 8 hours, colored by temperature. The cyan trails show where the ESCAPADE spacecraft will be flying on March 4, 2026.", "width": 3840, "height": 2160, "pixels": 8294400 } }, { "id": 511054, "type": "media", "extra_data": null, "title": null, "caption": "", "instance": { "id": 1202155, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005600/a005617/magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE_thumb.png", "filename": "magnetotail_2-24-2026a_magnetotail_ESCAPADE_thumb.png", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "This visualization shows a computer model of Earth's magnetotail evolving over the course of 8 hours, colored by temperature. The cyan trails show where the ESCAPADE spacecraft will be flying on March 4, 2026.", "width": 1920, "height": 1080, "pixels": 2073600 } } ], "extra_data": {} } ], "studio": "svs", "funding_sources": [ "NASA Heliophysics" ], "credits": [ { "role": "Data visualizer", "people": [ { "name": "AJ Christensen", "employer": "ADNET Systems, Inc." }, { "name": "Kel Elkins", "employer": "Science and Technology Corporation" } ] }, { "role": "Scientist", "people": [ { "name": "Yusuke Ebihara", "employer": "Kyoto University" }, { "name": "Robert Lillis", "employer": "University of California, Berkeley" } ] }, { "role": "Writer", "people": [ { "name": "Vanessa Thomas", "employer": "eMITS" } ] }, { "role": "Producer", "people": [ { "name": "Joy Ng", "employer": "eMITS" } ] } ], "missions": [ "Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE)" ], "series": [], "tapes": [], "papers": [ "Generation of field-aligned currents during substorm expansion: An update" ], "datasets": [ { "name": "REPPU", "common_name": "", "platform": null, "sensor": null, "type": "Model", "organizations": [], "description": "", "credit": "Tanaka, T., Nakamizo, A., Yoshikawa, A., Fujita, S., Shinagawa, H., Shimazu, H., et al. Substorm convection and current system deduced from the global simulation. Journal of Geophysical Research, 115(A5), A05220. https://www.doi.org/10.1029/2009JA014676 (2010).", "url": "", "date_range": "" } ], "nasa_science_categories": [ "Earth", "Sun" ], "keywords": [ "Heliophysics", "Magnetosphere", "magnetotail", "Solar Wind" ], "recommended_pages": [], "related": [ { "id": 5623, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5623/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "The Moon Passes Through Earth's Magnetotail", "description": "The Moon orbits the Earth 13 times a year. During a small part of that orbit, it passes through a special region called Earth's magnetotail, which stretches out on the night side of our planet. While inside the magnetotail, the Moon is protected from the Sun's radiation. But once it leaves the magnetotail, it is again exposed to the solar wind.", "release_date": "9999-12-30T18:59:59-05:00", "update_date": "2026-03-03T17:35:22.205101-05:00", "main_image": null }, { "id": 5503, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/5503/", "page_type": "Visualization", "title": "ESCAPADE Theoretical Flight Through Active Mars Magnetosphere", "description": "NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration Dynamics Explorers mission, or ESCAPADE, aims to study Mars' real-time response to the solar wind and how the Martian magnetosphere changes over time, helping us better understand Mars' climate history. In this data visualization, we use the September 13, 2017 solar storm that arrived at Mars as an example of a storm that the twin ESCAPADE spacecraft might study.", "release_date": "2025-11-19T12:00:00-05:00", "update_date": "2025-11-18T17:17:11.204487-05:00", "main_image": { "id": 1153062, "url": "https://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/vis/a000000/a005500/a005503/marsMagnetosphere_VelTracersExtended_9-6-2024a_jmag_normal_flightA_campaignA_noArrow_4k.00420_print.jpg", "filename": "marsMagnetosphere_VelTracersExtended_9-6-2024a_jmag_normal_flightA_campaignA_noArrow_4k.00420_print.jpg", "media_type": "Image", "alt_text": "Mars's magnetosphere experienced a strong solar wind storm on September 13, 2017. The induced magnetic field, generated by the storm's plasma interacting with the Martian ionosphere, was significantly stronger than usual and exceeded Mars' crustal magnetic field present in many localized regions of the planet.This data visualization shows time passing at 30 data simulation minutes per animation second.The solar storm can be seen contacting the Martian magnetosphere at 0:17 in the movie. The green current density shows where magnetic current is strong. Lines tracing out the magnetic field are purple in regions of weaker magnetism, and orange-yellow where the magnetic field is strongest.Cyan lines indicate the expected path of the ESCAPADE spacecraft during the first part of its mission, when the two spacecraft fly in tandem with one closely following the other.An alternate version of the data visualization with a sun-pointing arrow is available in the Download menu.", "width": 1024, "height": 576, "pixels": 589824 } } ], "sources": [], "products": [], "newer_versions": [], "older_versions": [], "alternate_versions": [] }