Science

Solar conjunction 2019: Why NASA is about to lose contact with its Mars rover


The Sun is about to block the Earth from the Red Planet, which is called the Mars solar conjunction. As a consequence of conjunction with Mars, the Red Planet will vanish from our skies as it hides behind our star. With the Sun blocking the Earth from the Red Planet, NASA must cautiously proceed with regards to the commands and data beamed back and forth between Earth and Mars.

A Mars solar conjunction results in gas spewing from the Sun disrupting radio signals.

And while data can be resent and repaired, corrupted commands aimed at Mars could have disastrous consequences for NASA’s Curiosity rover.

To avoid any potential problems, NASA has issued a “command moratorium” which will be in effect from Wednesday, August 28 through to Saturday, September 7.

Roy Gladden, manager of the Mars Relay Network at NASA’s JPL (Jet Propulsion Lab), said: “It’s that time again.

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“Our engineers have been preparing our spacecraft for conjunction for months.

“They’ll still be collecting science data at Mars, and some will attempt to send that data home.

“But we won’t be commanding the spacecraft out of concern that they could act on a corrupted command.”

During the command moratorium, the Curiosity rover will pause in its mission, and the InSight lander will keep it’s robotic arm static.

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Both the lander and rover will continue to collect data and relay that information to the Odyssey, MAVEN, and Mars Reconnaissance orbiters.

NASA has compiled simple to-do lists for Mars probes during the moratorium.

And only limited data will be beamed back to Earth during this time.

Once the conjunction is over, and Earth-Mars communications are back online, data will be relayed back to Earth, and researchers will carefully comb through the information to ensure none is corrupted.

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NASA has maintained a continuous presence on the Red Planet for the last 20 years and the space agency will launch a new rover to Mars next year.

NASA said: “Every day for over two decades, the US has had a presence at Mars, using spacecraft to understand this extreme world and its potential as a past or present habitat for life.

“During that time, all spacecraft have become virtually incommunicado for about two weeks every two years. The reason is solar conjunction.”



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