NASA首颗ESCAPADE探测器动力飞掠地球奔赴火星：点火约9分钟时速提升逾1600公里，第二颗11月9日跟进
美国国家航空航天局（NASA）首颗ESCAPADE探测器于美东时间11月7日约4时51分开始点火，完成动力飞掠地球，借地球引力奔赴火星；第二颗探测器定于11月9日美东时间约5时51分做同样的飞掠跟进。
ESCAPADE全称为Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers（逃逸与等离子体加速和动力学探测器），由两颗探测器组成。NASA表示，两颗探测器各自执行一次“动力”飞掠地球，将地球引力与发动机点火结合起来，把自己弹射向火星。在飞近地球时，探测器进行“奔火星注入点火”，发动机点火约9分钟，为奔赴火星提供额外推力。这次点火使探测器时速提升逾1600公里，速度自约10.14公里/秒提至约10.78公里/秒（约6.3英里/秒至约6.7英里/秒）。NASA表示，这是首个对奔火星航天器实施的动力地球飞掠，也称奥伯特机动；此前奔赴火星的任务都是在地球与火星对齐时直接发射，而地火对齐约每26个月才出现一次。
两颗探测器于2025年11月13日发射升空，当时地球与火星位于太阳的两侧，并不适合直飞火星。探测器没有直奔火星，而是在日地拉格朗日L2点附近绕行停留约一年，等待两颗行星的位置合适后返回地球借力。NASA表示，这条新路线还让探测器收集到了额外的科学数据—它们飞越了地球磁尾的远端区域，此前还没有航天器直接探测过地球磁尾的这一部分。
完成动力飞掠后，两颗探测器将进行约10个月的巡航飞行，预计分别于2027年9月7日和2027年9月9日抵达火星。抵达火星后，ESCAPADE将成为首个双探测器编队环火星飞行的任务，环火星轨道主任务期为11个月，科学观测预计于2028年年中开始。任务目标是研究太阳风如何与火星环境相互作用、驱动火星大气流失，揭示火星如何失去大气层。
NASA表示，两颗探测器在飞掠地球前可在美国西部上空被观测到，第一颗于11月7日午夜至凌晨1时（太平洋时间）在美国西部上空最亮，第二颗于11月9日凌晨1时至2时（太平洋时间）最亮，观测时很可能需要望远镜。任务团队将在点火几天后确认探测器瞄准火星的精度，并在奔火星途中多次修正轨道。（来源：美国国家航空航天局）
NASA's First ESCAPADE Spacecraft Makes Powered Flyby of Earth on Way to Mars: Second to Follow November 9
NASA's first ESCAPADE spacecraft began its engine burn at about 4:51 a.m. EST on November 7, completing a powered flyby of Earth and using our planet's gravity to slingshot itself toward Mars. The second spacecraft is scheduled to perform the same flyby on November 9, with its burn beginning at about 5:51 a.m. EST.
ESCAPADE, short for Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, consists of two spacecraft. According to NASA, each spacecraft will execute a "powered" flyby of Earth, combining Earth's gravity with an engine burn to slingshot itself toward Mars. As each spacecraft flies close to Earth, it performs a "trans-Mars injection burn," firing its engine for about 9 minutes to give itself an extra boost toward the Red Planet. The burn increases each spacecraft's speed by more than 1,000 miles per hour (about 1,600 kilometers per hour), from about 6.3 miles per second to about 6.7 miles per second (about 10.14 kilometers per second to about 10.78 kilometers per second). NASA said this is the first powered Earth flyby ever executed by a Mars-bound spacecraft, also known as an Oberth maneuver. Previous missions to Mars launched directly when Earth and Mars were aligned, an alignment that occurs only about every 26 months.
The two spacecraft launched on November 13, 2025, when Earth and Mars were on opposite sides of the Sun and a direct flight to Mars was not possible. Instead of heading straight to Mars, they looped around the Earth-Sun Lagrange point 2 for about a year, waiting for the planets to return to alignment before flying back to Earth for a gravity assist. NASA said the new route also allowed the spacecraft to collect bonus science as they flew through a distant region of Earth's magnetotail, a part of Earth's magnetic environment that no spacecraft had directly explored before.
After completing their powered flybys, the two spacecraft will cruise for about 10 months and are expected to arrive at Mars on September 7 and September 9, 2027, respectively. Once at Mars, ESCAPADE will become the first multi-spacecraft mission to fly in formation around the planet. Its primary mission in Mars orbit will last 11 months, with science observations expected to begin by mid-2028. The mission aims to study how the solar wind interacts with the Martian environment and drives atmospheric loss at Mars, revealing how Mars lost its atmosphere.
NASA said the spacecraft could be spotted in the skies over the western United States before their flybys, with the first likely brightest between midnight and 1 a.m. PST on November 7 and the second between 1 and 2 a.m. PST on November 9, most likely requiring a telescope. The mission team will know how well the spacecraft are aimed for Mars several days after the burns and will adjust their paths with multiple trajectory correction maneuvers during the journey. (Source: NASA)
来源：美国国家航空航天局
发布：GSM·美国（发布链接）
图片来源：图：美国国家航空航天局总部资料图。NASA图片。 / Photo: NASA headquarters. Image from NASA.
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