Mars solar conjunction: NASA's Mars missions on pause for two weeks

NASA's Mars rovers and orbiters have gotten much quieter for a few weeks due to Mars' solar conjunction, a period when the Red Planet is on the opposite side of the Sun from Earth.

During solar conjunction, the daily communication between antennas here on Earth and NASA's Mars fleet is paused because hot, ionized gas expelled from the Sun's corona could potentially corrupt radio signals, leading to unexpected behaviours.

Solar conjunction occurs every two years and this time, the hold on issuing commands - called a "command moratorium" - will run from Nov. 11 to 25.

"Our mission teams have spent months preparing to-do lists for all our Mars spacecraft. We'll still be able to hear from them and check their states of health over the next few weeks," said Roy Gladden, manager of the Mars Relay Network at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California.

When Earth and Mars are on opposite sides of the Sun, our robots lie low.In an event known as Mars solar conjunction, @NASA will pause sending its robots commands for 2 weeks - but the robots aren't on vacation. See what they'll do during the break: https://t.co/CHlo6yKt5M pic.twitter.com/bCr0z6XTxp

— NASA JPL (@NASAJPL) November 10, 2023

Despite the communications pause, NASA spacecraft on Mars including the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers will monitor changes in surface conditions, weather, and radiation as they stay parked.

During this period, the Perseverance's companion, the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will use its color camera to study the movement of sand, which poses an ever-present challenge to Mars missions. Similarly, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the Odyssey orbiter will continue imaging the Martian surface.

Once the command moratorium ends, the orbiters will relay all the pending science data to Earth, and the spacecraft can begin receiving instructions again, the agency said.