NASA's Mars Rovers Take a Break

NASA's Mars Rovers Take a Break

NASA's Mars Rovers Take a Break: Sun's Interference Delays Communications"

In a recent report, it has been revealed that NASA's Mars exploration robots will be on their own for the next two weeks. The American space agency is awaiting a natural phenomenon that will disrupt regular communications as Mars and Earth reach positions in their orbits, placing them on opposite sides of the sun in an alignment known as solar conjunction.

During this period, NASA cautions against sending commands to its tools on Mars, as solar interference could have adverse effects. To mitigate any potential issues, NASA is taking a planned break from issuing commands until the planets move to more favorable positions.

The hiatus began on Saturday and will continue until November 25. Solar conjunction for Mars occurs every two years. While spacecraft will be able to send essential health updates to Earth throughout most of this period, they will remain completely silent on Monday, the days when Mars is entirely obscured by the sun.

This means that the rovers Perseverance and Curiosity, the helicopter Ingenuity, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the orbiters Odyssey and MAVEN will rely on their onboard instruments for a while. While these instruments continue collecting data for their respective missions, the information won't be transmitted to Earth until the power outage is resolved.