Intense Solar Storm Shifts ESCAPADE Launch

Narration: Dr. Joe Westlake

Transcript:

ESCAPADE, NASA’s next mission to Mars, is on its way to deep space and will begin its journey to the Red Planet next year.

Ironically, this space weather mission was slightly delayed on the launchpad because of, well you guessed it, space weather!

Multiple NASA satellites saw massive flares and eruptions, known as coronal mass ejections, coming from the Sun.

These coronal mass ejections evolved into the most intense geomagnetic storm of 2025.

Satellites that power our communications systems also got an unfortunate bath of solar radiation that could’ve disabled the electronics onboard.

So, due to this intense geomagnetic storm, we decided, out of an abundance of caution, to hold ESCAPADE until the space weather storm subsided.

Of course, the obvious question is: why couldn’t we have launched this space weather mission, well, into space weather?

Right after that launch, ESCAPADE went through a series of important checks with our team on the ground. It’s a very sensitive time for the mission and space weather could have impacted those initial communications as well as the critical events like deploying the solar panels.

NASA’s heliophysics missions help us to model and improve our understanding of these major events. Those models were crucial in the decision process to delay launch for ESCAPADE.

And, when ESCAPADE arrives at Mars, the mission will help us develop similar capabilities at Mars, which can protect future astronaut explorers and robotic space missions at the Red Planet.

After the powerful geomagnetic storm subsided, we were able to confidently launch the twin ESCAPADE spacecraft, knowing that they would be safe from the extreme solar radiation as they powered on to begin their mission.

So, stay tuned for more ESCAPADE updates at www.nasa.gov/escapades.

And go ESCAPADE!