NASA has temporarily paused sending commands to its Mars-exploring robots due to a “Mars solar conjunction” where Earth and the Red Planet are positioned on opposite sides of the sun. This aligns roughly every two years, prompting the halt of commands for safety reasons. The pause is necessary as hot ionized gas from the sun’s corona could potentially disrupt signals sent from Earth to Mars spacecraft, causing unexpected behaviors.
NASA’s Mars fleet, including the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, will continue to conduct some work during this solar conjunction. Both rovers will monitor surface conditions, weather, and radiation, while the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter will study the movement of sand using its color camera, a constant challenge for Mars missions. The three active Mars orbiters, Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO), and MAVEN, will also continue their observations from above.
These robots are experienced at riding out conjunctions, with Odyssey having arrived at Mars in 2001, MRO in 2006, Curiosity in 2012, and MAVEN in 2014, while Perseverance and Ingenuity are the newest members of the fleet, landing in February 2021.
