09:49 AM EDT, 08/16/2024 (MT Newswires) -- Rocket Lab USA ( RKLB ) said Friday it has shipped two spacecraft to Cape Canaveral in Florida for NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or EscaPADE, mission to Mars.

The company said the spacecraft, developed by Rocket Lab in collaboration with the University of California, Berkeley, will undergo final inspections and fueling at NASA's Kennedy Space Center ahead of their launch on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket.

EscaPADE is scheduled to launch in October, to reach Mars in September 2025, and end its primary science mission in March 2027, according to the NASA Space Science Data Coordinated Archive website.

EscaPADE's goal is to understand how solar wind affects Mars' atmosphere and magnetosphere, Rocket Lab said Friday.

Shares of Rocket Lab were more than 15% higher in recent Friday trading.

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