Lower-cost space missions like NASA's ESCAPADE are starting to deliver exciting science – but at a price in risk and trade‑offs

An illustration showing two boxy satellites with solar panels floating in front of the red planet Mars.

This article was originally published at The Conversation. The publication contributed the article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.

After a yearslong series of setbacks, NASA's Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers, or ESCAPADE, mission has finally begun its roundabout journey to Mars.