Blue is talking?
I think DSN is doing it's stupid obfuscation thing.
🛰️🛰️ The twins are talking!We have successfully established contact with both ESCAPADE spacecraft, 💙 Blue and 💛 Gold.We're on our way to Mars to enable @NASA and @ucbssl to study the Martian magnetosphere!
Can you be more specific?
The twins are talking!
Quote from: djellison on 11/14/2025 01:49 amCan you be more specific?Under certain circumstances, the DSN now web portal does not display real data from one or more stations.
https://twitter.com/mickeywzx/status/1989531668840157350
Rocket Lab@RocketLabBlue and Gold, the satellites we built for @NASA and @ucbssl, are now more than a million kilometers from Earth 🛰️🛰️Follow their journey to Mars on @NASA Eyes.
NASA Solar System@NASASolarSystem“First light” for NASA’s ESCAPADE mission! 🚀 📸 These images, taken on Nov. 21, 2025, are ESCAPADE’s “first light,” or first images taken from space. Just about a week after launch, one of the two Mars-bound spacecraft took these images as part of the commissioning process, which checks that all the spacecraft’s instruments are functioning as expected.The images, captured by the spacecraft's onboard VISIONS cameras, were taken about 550,062 miles (885,240 kilometers) from Earth. The view looks along the spacecraft's solar panel and out into space. The left-side image shows the view from the visible-light sensor, while the right-side image was taken with the infrared sensor, showing which parts of the array are warmer and cooler. At Mars, the visible-light camera will attempt to capture Mars’ auroras, whereas the infrared sensor will capture the changing temperatures on the Martian surface as the Sun rises and sets.Learn more: http://go.nasa.gov/4oeAlSc
After launch comes spacecraft commissioning 🛰️🛰️Our operators have spent recent days stabilizing spacecraft attitudes, deploying solar arrays, checking guidance and navigation systems, and powering up all flight computers and antennas on Blue and Gold as they begin their journey to Mars for the ESCAPADE mission.
Here's an overview of the current planned TCMs, though the dates and durations are subject to change: Trajectory Correction Maneuver 1 (TCM-1):Expected date: December 2nd 2025 on Blue, December 8th 2025 on Gold 15 seconds long, consuming 2 kg of propellant to deliver 11.5m/s of delta V. This is our initial demonstration maneuver to verify all systems perform as expected. Our fault management limits will be at their tightest to be conservative, based on margined modelling of how we expect the systems to perform. Once it's executed, we'll update our engine performance models including Isp, or specific impulse, (i.e. fuel efficiency), thrust, and mass flow rates, as well as parameters specifying system performance such as temperatures, pressures and flow.Trajectory Correction Maneuver 2 (TCM-2):Expected date: December 11th 2025 on Blue and December 16th 2025 on Gold 257 seconds long, consuming ~33 kg of propellant to deliver 200m/s of delta V. This is the big one. After we execute this burn, we will recalculate our mass margins and determine exactly how much mass we can bring to Mars. There are always small variations and tolerances in every design. So far, we have assumed the lowest design performance for the system and now we get to see just how much margin we have. The better our manufacturing, the more fuel we have in reserve to extend the science mission for as long as possible at Mars, enabling the UCB-SSL team to gather more data, giving scientists and researchers greater insights. For example, the efficiency of an engine is characterized by its Isp, measured in units of seconds. A few seconds more Isp (1% more Isp) could result in allowing us to bring 20kg more propellant at Mars, enough for half a year of station keeping in orbit. Although this is a longer burn, we have room to adapt to any contingencies should it not go perfectly. Burning a few seconds short is easily fixable on the next trajectory correction maneuver. But if we don’t... that’s equivalent to missing Mars by 100,000 km.Trajectory Correction Maneuver 3 (TCM-3):TCM-3 is tentatively planned as a final clean-up maneuver, but it may not be needed (10 m/s or less). TCM-3 is the last maneuver that Rocket Lab will be operating directly. Once it's complete (or if it gets skipped), we'll hand off control to the team at Berkeley to operate the rest of the mission, but we’ll be cheering them on all the way to Mars! Although TCM-3 is the last time Rocket Lab will be operating an engine maneuver, Blue and Gold still have some critical ones ahead. After patiently loitering in orbit at the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2 for around a year, Blue and Gold’s engines will ignite once again for a Trans-Mars Injection burn in November 2026, then after a 10 month cruise to the Red Planet they’ll undertake the Mars Orbit Insertion maneuvers in September 2027. Rocket Lab will be providing support to UC Berkeley for these two critical maneuvers.
Rocket Lab@RocketLab·Today, more than 1.59 million kilometers from Earth, a spacecraft we built for @NASA and @ucbssl's ESCAPADE Mars mission successfully fired its engine for the first time.The first trajectory correction maneuver on our journey to Mars is complete!
During trajectory correction maneuvers for NASA’s twin ESCAPADE spacecraft on Dec. 8 and Dec. 12, the mission operations team noticed low thrust during the burn for one of the spacecraft. The team is working to identify the cause and will attempt a trajectory correction maneuver in the coming weeks. The other spacecraft has successfully completed its two trajectory correction maneuvers, as planned. Both spacecraft are operating normally otherwise, and currently there are no long-term impacts from the trajectory correction delay. More information will be shared as it becomes available.
