Jeff Bezos' company will be responsible for the ESCAPADE mission, which will study the magnetosphere of Mars.

NASA continues to hand out contracts to private companies to conduct space missions. This time Blue Origin has been chosen to launch the ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission to Mars. The aim of this mission is to study the magnetosphere of Mars, i.e. the magnetic field of the red planet's atmosphere.

ESCAPADE will be launched on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket from the Cape Canaveral space complex in Florida. The mission is scheduled for the end of 2024.

The mission consists of exploring the magnetized area of space around the planet using two identical small satellites, which will provide observations from two different points simultaneously. These satellites, according to the "Sapo" portal, will help provide researchers with data to better understand how the magnetosphere interacts with the solar wind and how energy and plasma enter and leave this area.

Each satellite carries three instruments: a magnetometer to measure the magnetic field; an electrostatic analyzer to measure ions and electrons; and a probe to measure plasma density and the flow of the sun's extreme ultraviolet rays.

The ESCAPADE mission is expected to take around 11 months to reach Mars after leaving Earth's orbit. Once on the planet, it will take a few more months for the equipment to adjust its orbits until it manages to obtain the best position to record the data.

The information will allow NASA to better assess the weather in space, in order to protect both astronauts and satellites, whether orbiting the Earth or on missions to explore the solar system.