For the following two weeks, NASA is not going to be sending instructions to its fleet of Martian rovers, orbiters, and spacecraft till the Solar strikes out of the way in which.
The Mars photo voltaic conjunction is from November 11 to 25, a interval that happens each two years throughout which Earth and the Pink Planet are on reverse sides of the Solar of their respective orbital path. Throughout that point, ionized gasoline being emitted by the Solar may intrude with radio alerts being despatched from Earth to spacecraft on Mars, presumably leading to odd habits from the varied rovers trekking throughout the Martian terrain.
As a substitute of risking misinterpreted instructions, NASA is giving its Martian fleet the silent therapy for 2 weeks. The area company introduced that it’ll maintain off on communication between mission command and the varied spacecraft on or across the Pink Planet, NASA announced on Friday.
That doesn’t imply the Mars gang is totally off the hook; they are going to nonetheless perform restricted knowledge assortment throughout this down time as they await to listen to from their residence planet as soon as once more. “Our mission groups have spent months getting ready to-do lists for all our Mars spacecraft,” Roy Gladden, supervisor of the Mars Relay Community at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, mentioned in a press release. “We’ll nonetheless be capable to hear from them and examine their states of well being over the following few weeks.”
Right here’s what the totally different missions on Mars shall be as much as throughout the subsequent couple of weeks. NASA’s Perseverance and Curiosity rovers will monitor adjustments in floor circumstances, climate, and radiation whereas remaining parked in the identical place on the floor of Mars, in keeping with the area company. Perseverance’s companion, the Ingenuity Helicopter, will use its colour digital camera to check the motion of sand on Mars, which may pose a difficulty for different missions. The Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and the Odyssey orbiter will proceed imaging the floor of the Pink Planet, whereas MAVEN will accumulate knowledge on interactions between Mars’ ambiance and the Solar.
Throughout this time, NASA will nonetheless examine on the general well being of its spacecraft save for 2 days when Mars shall be absolutely hidden behind the Solar’s disk. As soon as the two-week interval ends, the Martian missions will relay the information again to Earth and resume communication with floor management.
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