ALMOST EVERYTHING ABOUT NASA'S LATEST MISSION TO MARS IS UNUSUAL

Summary from the TLDR newsletter

NASA's ESCAPADE mission, which launched on Thursday towards Mars, will collect data to provide clues about why the planet became cold, dry, and almost airless. The mission was initially rejected when it was proposed, and then it was only approved because of a federal government shutdown in 2018. The mission was delayed several times, but the lessons learned along the way could help NASA get more bang for its buck for future missions. The trajectory the mission is pioneering allows launches to be made outside of tight launch windows.