A gravity assist isn’t free energy. The spacecraft exchanges a tiny amount of momentum with Earth as it flies past, changing its motion around the Sun. Earth’s own motion is what makes the slingshot work.
The twin ESCAPADE probes are headed to Mars to study how the solar wind strips away its atmosphere, a process thought to have helped turn a once wetter Mars into the cold desert we see today.
Flyby #2 of those ESCAPADE twins tonight—still amazes me you might catch a Mars-bound spacecraft as a faint dot drifting east to west. Anyone planning to look?
ESCAPADE took the scenic route: launched on New Glenn a year ago, spent a year in a holding pattern, and now each twin swings past Earth to slingshot toward Mars. Our New Glenn pin is thrilled about its first interplanetary passengers.
