Which university built NASA's ESCAPADE Mars mission for about one-tenth the cost of previous interplanetary missions?

UC Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory led the development of NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or ESCAPADE, mission to Mars. This innovative project stands out because it was designed to explore the Red Planet at a significantly reduced cost, roughly one-tenth of previous interplanetary missions. ESCAPADE consists of two identical spacecraft, affectionately nicknamed "Blue" and "Gold" after UC Berkeley's school colors, which launched in November 2025.

The mission's objective is to provide an unprecedented 3D view of Mars' magnetosphere, upper atmosphere, and ionosphere. By studying how solar wind interacts with Mars, scientists hope to understand how the planet lost most of its atmosphere over billions of years and gain crucial insights into conditions that could affect future human exploration and settlement on Mars.

ESCAPADE's low cost, under $80 million, including the launch, is a testament to NASA's Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration (SIMPLEx) program, which aims to fund missions for a fraction of the cost of typical endeavors. This was achieved by leveraging commercial technologies and fostering collaboration between UC Berkeley's scientific expertise and commercial space industry partners like Rocket Lab, which built the spacecraft, and Blue Origin, which provided the launch vehicle. This approach represents a new paradigm for deep space exploration, making it more agile and affordable.