A spacecraft belonging to NASA’s ESCAPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission successfully photographed Earth and the Moon on July 3, 2026. Captured from a distance of 363,250 miles from Earth and 115,600 miles from the Moon, the images utilized both visible and thermal infrared light.
The visible light photographs depict both celestial bodies as crescents, with only about 8% of their surfaces illuminated by the Sun. In contrast, the thermal infrared imagery highlights the heat emitted by Earth's atmosphere and surface, which registered between minus 10 and minus 44 degrees Fahrenheit. The Moon's far side, lacking the insulating effects of an atmosphere or oceans, appeared significantly colder at minus 280 degrees Fahrenheit.
These images were captured using the Visible and Infrared Observation System, developed by Northern Arizona University. According to Rob Lillis, the mission’s principal investigator at the University of California, Berkeley, the exercise served as a vital calibration check for the cameras, which are intended to study Martian auroras and thermal properties once the mission reaches its destination.
The ESCAPADE spacecraft, manufactured by Rocket Lab, are currently positioned in a loiter orbit near Lagrange point 2. They are scheduled to perform a gravity-assist flyby of Earth in November 2026, setting them on a trajectory to arrive at Mars in September 2027. Upon arrival, the mission will investigate how solar wind influences atmospheric loss on the Red Planet.
The mission is part of NASA’s Small Innovative Missions for Planetary Exploration program and is managed by the UC Berkeley Space Sciences Laboratory in collaboration with several partners, including NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Rocket Lab, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, Advanced Space, and Blue Origin.
Source: NASA
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