Mars & Deep Space — 2026-03-22

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sciencedaily.com

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Top Stories

NASA's ESCAPADE Mission: Solving the Mystery of Mars' Lost Atmosphere

NASA's twin-spacecraft ESCAPADE mission is designed to watch — in real time — how the Sun's solar wind strips away Mars' atmosphere, the same process scientists believe transformed Mars from a warmer, wetter world into today's frozen desert. The two spacecraft were launched aboard Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket in November 2025 and are currently loitering in a kidney-bean-shaped Earth orbit. They are expected to return to Earth in late 2026 for a gravity-assist maneuver before heading to Mars. ESCAPADE represents a new era of dual-point atmospheric science at another planet, allowing researchers to study solar wind interaction from two vantage points simultaneously.

NASA's MAVEN Probe Remains Silent — Future of Mars Atmospheric Science in Question

NASA's MAVEN (Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN) orbiter, a critical tool for studying how Mars loses its atmosphere, has gone silent after unexpectedly losing contact in December 2025. As of this week, NASA continues its efforts to re-establish communication, but no breakthrough has been reported. The loss of MAVEN is particularly significant given that it was the primary active mission studying Martian atmospheric escape — the very same phenomenon ESCAPADE was designed to investigate in greater depth. Questions are mounting about the long-term continuity of Mars upper-atmosphere research if contact cannot be restored.

NASA Opens All 3I/ATLAS Interstellar Comet Data to the Public

NASA announced this week that all data collected by its missions on interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS is now publicly available through NASA's open science portal. The agency says this data will continue to yield insights about the comet and interstellar objects more broadly, enabling researchers worldwide to conduct follow-on investigations. Interstellar comets — objects originating outside our solar system — provide a rare window into the composition of other planetary systems, and 3I/ATLAS is only the third confirmed interstellar object ever detected. Making the data openly accessible is expected to accelerate discoveries that no single research team could accomplish alone.

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science.nasa.gov

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Mars - NASA Science

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Artemis II News and Updates - NASA

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NASA Reassessing Artemis II Rollout as Ground Teams Make Up Time - NASA

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NASA Strengthens Artemis: Adds Mission, Refines Overall Architecture - NASA

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FAQ: NASA’s Artemis Campaign and Recent Updates - NASA

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NASA Eyes New Date for Artemis II Rocket Rollout - NASA

Mission Status Board

Deep Space & Planetary Science

• Interstellar Comet 3I/ATLAS Data Release: NASA's open science initiative has made all mission data on interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS freely available to researchers globally. Only the third confirmed interstellar object ever detected, 3I/ATLAS offers unique clues about the chemistry and structure of planetary systems beyond our own. NASA expects that broad access to the dataset will unlock discoveries well beyond what any single team could achieve, powering the next generation of interstellar object research.

• Mars Sample Return Still Uncertain: NASA's Perseverance rover continues its science campaign on Mars, but the path to returning its collected samples to Earth remains unclear. After cost and schedule overruns in the Mars Sample Return (MSR) effort, NASA announced in January that it would study two alternative MSR concepts through mid-2026. The rover keeps caching scientifically valuable samples, but whether and when they will reach Earth-based laboratories is an open question that the broader planetary science community is watching closely.

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nasa.gov

nasa.gov

nasa.gov

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Artemis II News and Updates - NASA

nasa.gov

NASA Reassessing Artemis II Rollout as Ground Teams Make Up Time - NASA

nasa.gov

NASA Strengthens Artemis: Adds Mission, Refines Overall Architecture - NASA

nasa.gov

FAQ: NASA’s Artemis Campaign and Recent Updates - NASA

nasa.gov

NASA Eyes New Date for Artemis II Rocket Rollout - NASA

Analysis: What This Means

The simultaneous loss of MAVEN and the not-yet-arrived ESCAPADE mission highlights a critical vulnerability in NASA's Mars atmospheric science portfolio: there is currently no active orbiter dedicated to studying how Mars loses its atmosphere. If MAVEN cannot be recovered, the gap in continuous data could complicate interpretation of ESCAPADE's eventual measurements when it reaches Mars. Meanwhile, the open release of 3I/ATLAS data signals NASA's broader push toward open science — a strategy that could help stretch a tightening science budget by crowdsourcing analysis. With Mars Sample Return costs still under review and two alternative concepts being evaluated, the mid-2026 decision point on MSR's future architecture could define NASA's Mars science roadmap for the next decade.

What to Watch Next

• ESCAPADE Earth Gravity Assist: The twin ESCAPADE spacecraft are expected to complete their Earth gravity-assist maneuver in late 2026, setting them on a direct course to Mars — a key milestone that will confirm the mission's trajectory.

• NASA Mars Sample Return Architecture Decision: NASA is studying two alternative Mars Sample Return concepts and is expected to reach a decision by mid-2026, which will determine the long-term fate of Perseverance's cached samples.

• Artemis II Crewed Lunar Launch (April 2, 2026): While not a Mars mission, Artemis II — NASA's first crewed deep-space flight since Apollo — is now targeted for April 2, 2026. The 10-day mission will test systems needed for future crewed missions, including those that will ultimately support a path to Mars.