The first launch of Blue Origin’s new Glenn Rocket was to send a pair of Mars-bound satellites for NASA, but last year’s uncertain preparatory plan forced NASA to pull back the payload. Now things are lined up for the mission to finally fly.
The company announced Thursday that the second release of the heavy lifting rocket was for the escape mission, but did not announce the launch date for the target.
“This will be an exciting mission for the new Glenn and Mars exploration,” Blue Origin CEO Dave Limp posted on X.
The mission, called the NG-2, will also fly a technology demonstration from commercial satellite company VIASAT to support the communications services project of the NASA Space Operations Mission Bureau.
Upon lifting, the mission will fly again from the launch complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The debut was released in January.
The launch was a success in orbit, but Blue Origin was unable to paste the booster landing on the “Jaclin,” a ship named after the mother of the company’s founder Jeff Bezos. The company’s plans are attempting to reuse the new Glen Booster for up to 25 flights with a recovery landing that was carried out in the same way as the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.
The Escape Mission, short for Escape, Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorer, was targeting the October 2024 launch, bringing two satellites to Red Planet by the second half of 2025, Blue and Gold.
Rob Lilith, the lead researcher for the mission at the University of California, Berkeley, said Thursday that the mission timeline had changed slightly, but the launch date was not confirmed. He said after its launch, the escape satellite would spend what is called the long “Reuters” stage around Earth before returning to low-Earth orbit on Mars in November 2026 for gravity assist.
A 10-month trip will then arrive in September 2027, reaching its final position and will begin a science gathering in the early to mid-term 2028 for what was originally planned as a five-month campaign.
NASA won a $20 million launch task order for Blue Origin in February 2023. The satellite will be built by rocket launch provider Rocket Lab to study how solar wind interacts with Mars’ magnetic fields.
“This mission will help you study the atmosphere of Mars. We need to explore the solar system much further further, protecting astronauts and spacecraft from space weather. “We are committed to seeing Escade look safe in space. I look forward to seeing it from the ground.”
In the case of Blue Origin, the second launch of the rocket will continue its plans to achieve certification for future national security missions. Space Force requires two successful launches before allowing payloads on the rocket, but the company was already awarded the right to compete for the contract, along with SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance as part of the National Space Security Launch 3 program.
The company has tapped several commercial customers, including Bezos’ first company. Amazon has contracted at least 12 launches to send hundreds of satellites for Kuiper Internet Constellation, a project aimed at competing with SpaceX’s Starlink.
New Glenn is also tapped on NASA and fly Blue Moon Lunar Landers on Blue Origin.
Bezos has sunk billions of dollars into the company, but previously only launched a new suborbital Shepard Rockets from a Western Texas launch site.
The 321 feet tall new Glen is more than five times the height of the New Shepherd.
The January flight was the first of its blue origins, but the BE-4 engine was already flying in the version that successfully launched two successful releases of ULA’s new Vulcan rockets in 2024.
The new Glen also offers the largest cargo space of its competitors, with a fairing about 23 feet in diameter and a construction that forms a cone on top of the rocket. This compares to fairings with about 17-18 feet in diameter found on Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Vulcan Rockets.
Blue Origin is the only commercial company so far to get back on track with a rocket built in Florida.
The new Glenn stage is manufactured and integrated into the engines of Rocket Park, located nine miles inland, adjacent to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Merritt Island. Final preparations for the launch, including refueling, will be made at the LC-36 facility.
Blue Origin took over the LEASE of the LC-36 in 2015, investing around $1 billion in the pad site alone. It was previously used in government launches from 1962 to 2005, including the 1967 Lunar Lander Surveyor 1 and some of the Mariner Probes.
Original issue: July 17, 2025, 3:29pm EDT
