ESCAPADE mission to fly past Earth twice in 2 days
On November 7 and 9, 2026, the twin probes of the ESCAPADE mission — first Blue and then Gold — will perform flybys of Earth on the way to Mars. The post ESCAPADE mission to fly past Earth twice in 2 days first appeared on EarthSky .
The ESCAPADE mission will conduct two flybys of Earth in November 2026, with one spacecraft, Blue, passing on November 7 and the other, Gold, passing two days later on November 9. This gravity-assisted maneuver will help propel the twin spacecraft on their journey to Mars, where they will study how solar particles and Mars' magnetic environment interact.
The mission, which launched in November 2025, aims to track the internal workings of Mars' magnetic environment, which is unique compared to Earth's global magnetic field. The spacecraft will need a boost of over 1,000 miles per hour at their closest approach to Mars, which scientists are calling a trans-Mars injection burn. Observers in the western U.S. and southern Australia may be able to catch a glimpse of the flybys with a telescope.
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