ESCAPADE: unraveling cause and effect in Mars hybrid magnetosphere

Multi-spacecraft missions after 2000 (Cluster II, THEMIS, Van Allen Probes, and MMS) have revolutionized our understanding of the causes, patterns and variability of a wide array of plasma phenomena in the terrestrial magnetospheric environment. ESCAPADE is a twin-spacecraft Mars mission that will similarly revolutionize our understanding of how solar wind momentum and energy flow throughout Mars magnetosphere to drive ion and sputtering escape, two processes which have helped shape Mars climate evolution over solar system history. ESCAPADE will measure magnetic field strength and topology, ion plasma distributions (separated into light and heavy masses), as well as suprathermal electron flows and thermal electron and ion densities, from elliptical, ~160 km x ~7000 km orbits. ESCAPADE are small spacecraft (<125 kg dry mass), following ballistic Hohmann transfers to Mars. ESCAPADEs strategically-designed 1-year, 2-part scientific campaign of temporally and spatially-separated multipoint measurements in different regions of Mars diverse plasma environment, will allow the cause-and-effect of solar wind control of ion and sputtering escape to be unraveled for the first time. Figure 1 shows ESCAPADEs orbits within a hybrid simulation of the solar wind interaction with Mars, where the color scale represents ion velocity, blue lines are magnetic field, while white lines are sample proton trajectories and spacecraft orbits. ESCAPADE recently passed its preliminary design review (PDR) and looks forward to entering Phase C in September 2021 with launch scheduled for 2024 as an as-yet-unscheduled rideshare. We will report on science goals, engineering and mission design, and provide a status update.