Rocket Lab has secured a contract to design spacecraft which will be sent to Mars.
The Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission, led by Rob Lillis at the University of California, will see a twin-spacecraft orbiting Mars to better understand the structure, composition and dynamics of its magnetic field.
Rocket Lab will design the two Photon spacecraft
Their launch is planned for 2024 and it will take the two spacecraft 11 months to reach Mars' orbit.
Once in place, they will explore how solar wind strips the atmosphere away from Mars, to better understand how its climate has changed over the years.
Rocket Lab chief executive Peter Beck says the mission is "hugely promising".
"Planetary science missions have traditionally cost hundreds of millions of dollars and taken up to a decade to come to fruition. ESCAPADE will demonstrate a more cost-effective approach to planetary exploration that will increase the science community's access to our solar system for the better."
ESCAPADE will undergo a NASA preliminary design review in June and a confirmation review in July determining whether the mission proceeds to implementation and flight.
