November 13, 2025

— The first multi-spacecraft science mission to launch to Mars is now on its way and catching a ride on the twin probes are the first kiwis to fly to the Red Planet.

NASA's ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission lifted off on a 22-month trip to Mars on Thursday (Nov. 13). Once there, the identical satellites will enter Martian orbit to study in real time how space weather affects the planet's hybrid magnetosphere and how the interaction drove Mars to lose its once dense atmosphere.

Led by the Space Sciences Laboratory at the University of California, Berkeley — the two spacecraft are named "Blue" and "Gold" after the school's colors — the ESCAPADE probes are the first Mars-bound vehicles to be designed, built and tested by Rocket Lab, the end-to-end space company headquartered in California but founded in New Zealand.

Hence, the kiwis.

"Rocket Lab has a tradition of hiding kiwis in many areas of its design," said Lindsay McLaurin, senior communications manager for space systems at Rocket Lab, in response to an inquiry from collectSPACE. "The birds have snuck onto our rockets and satellites since the beginning of the company, reflecting the New Zealand roots of the company and as a challenge among our designers and spacecraft builders."

The birds, which are native to the island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean, appear as graphics on twin plaques attached to Blue and Gold. The metal plates, which adorn one of the two solar panels on each probe, also feature the Rocket Lab logo, the company's motto ("Non Sufficit Hic Orbis" or "This World Is Not Enough") and a similar icon of a bald eagle.

"To represent our company's global presence," said McLaurin, referring to the American icon.

From flightless to flight

Kiwis are flightless birds, hence their need to hitch a ride off of Earth. In this case, it was Blue Origin's New Glenn heavy-lift rocket.

ESCAPADE flew on the second New Glenn flight, NG-2. The vehicle left Launch Complex 36 at 3:55 p.m. EST (2055 GMT) on Thursday from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The rocket's first stage, named "Never Tell Me the Odds," then returned to a landing on Blue Origin's recovery ship, "Jacklyn," a first for the company.

New Glenn launch of Mars ESCAPADE. Click to enlarge video in pop-up window. (Blue Origin)

ESCAPADE Blue was deployed just over a half hour into the flight, followed by Gold about 30 seconds later. Both mini-fridge-size satellites entered a "loiter" orbit to loop around Lagrange point 2 (L-2), located about a million miles (1.6 million kilometers) away, opposite the Sun, until Earth and Mars again align in the fall of 2026. The spacecraft will then use a gravity assist to begin their 10-month transit to Mars.

Blue and Gold are expected to arrive at Mars in September 2027, separated by two days and then enter orbit at an initial altitude of 280 miles (450 kilometers). The spacecraft will then transition to a nearly identical science orbit, proceeding through a two-phase, multi-maneuver orbit reduction.

Between June 2028 and May 2029, Blue and Gold will carry out two science campaigns, first flying in formation in the same orbit and then in separate orbits. This approach of coordinated, multipoint observations will enable scientists to characterize the temporal variability and real-time response of Mars' near-space environment to space weather, or the flow of charged particles from solar wind. The data collected will help clarify the causes and effects, according to Robert Lillis, ESCAPADE's principal investigator at UC Berkeley.

The mission aims to our understanding of Mars' climate history and what was behind the loss of its conditions that once supported liquid water, potential oceans and possibly life on the surface.

Plaques and partner patches

In addition to the kiwi-adorned plates, Rocket Lab also installed two more plaques on twin ESCAPADE spacecraft.

"There are also two name plates (one in blue and one in gold) on each spacecraft listing Rocket Lab team members who've contributed to the mission, making it possible to get to Mars," said McLaurin.

Mounted on the solar panels, the plaques use shading to also display the Latin initials (NSHO) of the Rocket Lab motto and form the company's logo. Despite their diminutive size, each plate appears to include more than 200 names, including founder, president and CEO Peter Beck.

UC Berkeley adopted its colors in 1873. According to the school's website, "blue for the California sky and ocean and for the Yale graduates who helped establish the university, gold for the 'Golden State.'"

ESCAPADE also has its own set of colors, or rather colorful patches.

The main mission logo depicts the twin spacecraft in orbit around Mars with the names of the primary partners listed along its border, including UCB-SSL (University of California, Berkeley-Space Science Laboratory); RL (Rocket Lab); ERAU (Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, which designed and built the langmuir probe, one of the mission's science instruments); AdvSp (Advanced Space, which oversaw mission design and trajectory optimization); and NASA-GSFC (NASA Goddard Space Flight Center).

Rocket Lab also designed an insignia, which renders the two spacecraft in blue and gold, as well as shows their trajectory in the same colors and includes the company's motto.

Lastly, Blue Origin's New Glenn-2 (NG-2) patch featuring the launch vehicle and the two ESCAPADE satellites, using hues of orange to represent Mars.