Alexander Lewis
Nov 23, 2023
For over a week, NASA has been out of touch with its robotic missions both on and around Mars — but don't fret, this is part of the plan.
Roughly every two years, Earth and Mars go through a brief phase called solar conjunction when they're on opposite sides of the Sun. According to the stargazing website In the Sky, both the Sun and Mars will be positioned in the constellation Libra. This means Mars will be engulfed in the Sun's glare for weeks, making communication with our robotic explorers on the red planet quite unreliable at best.
Typically, Mars is about 140 million miles away on average, but this distance expands during solar conjunction to approximately 235 million miles — around 2.5 astronomical units (AU) from Earth. This occurrence contrasts with Mars opposition when Earth sits between Mars and the Sun, offering a particularly striking view of the "God of War" planet in the night sky.
So, why the temporary goodbye to our mechanical companions for two weeks? The issue lies with the Sun, essentially a colossal source of interference. When rovers, orbiters, and a remarkable helicopter attempt to transmit data back to Earth, solar particles can disrupt this data, resulting in gaps. But the converse is far worse; confused commands from NASA could potentially jeopardise a mission. Hence, NASA will halt commands from November 11 to November 25.
As explained by NASA, this hiatus doesn't mean these robots are on vacation. The stationary Curiosity and Perseverance rovers will continue observing Mars' surface, while the Mars Reconnaissance and Odyssey orbiters will maintain their functions (albeit without sending messages home). The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft will persist in studying the Martian atmosphere, and even the diminutive Ingenuity helicopter will monitor the movement of Martian sand from the ground.
"Our mission teams have prepared extensive to-do lists for all our Mars spacecraft," stated Roy Gladden, manager of the Mars Relay Network at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "We'll still receive updates and monitor their conditions over the next few weeks."
However, even these status checks will cease for a 48-hour period while Mars directly aligns with the Sun's disk. As mission control teams collectively hold their breath, the hope is that after two days, the familiar signals of mechanical activity will resume, and humanity's companions on Mars will eagerly share their discoveries during our absence.
