A Mars-bound ESCAPADE spacecraft has captured visible and thermal infrared images of Earth and the Moon to calibrate its onboard camera systems.

On July 3, one of NASA’s two ESCAPADE spacecraft captured images of Earth and the Moon using visible and thermal infrared light. At the time, the spacecraft was 363,250 miles from Earth and 115,600 miles from the Moon. The mission, which is currently in a loiter orbit, used these well-known targets to perform a calibration check on its camera systems before continuing its journey toward Mars.

Imaging and Camera Capabilities

The images were captured using the Visible and Infrared Observation System cameras, which were provided by Northern Arizona University. In the visible light images, both Earth and the Moon appear as crescents with approximately 8% of their faces illuminated by the Sun. The thermal infrared images reveal the heat emitted by the bodies, showing Earth's shadowed hemisphere glowing at temperatures between minus 10 and minus 44 degrees Fahrenheit. In contrast, the Moon’s far side remains significantly cooler at minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit due to its lack of an atmosphere and oceans.

Mission Objectives and Timeline

Built by Rocket Lab, the ESCAPADE spacecraft are currently positioned near Lagrange point 2. In November 2026, the craft will perform a flyby of Earth to utilize the planet's gravity for a trajectory toward Mars. Upon arrival in September 2027, the mission aims to study how solar wind interacts with the Martian environment and contributes to atmospheric loss. The mission is led by the University of California, Berkeley’s Space Sciences Laboratory and funded by NASA’s Heliophysics Division.