NASA's research is being hampered by the Sun.
Laying low
Both NASA and China National Space Administration (CNSA), which are the only space agencies that have robotic rovers on Mars, are being forced to suspend their research for a while.
Problem? The Sun is actually getting in the way. According to NASA, a period known as Mars solar conjunction, when the Sun passes between the two planets is scheduled to begin next week, October 2. The space agencies decided to stop transmitting new commands to their Mars rovers while it was there.
We get signal
NASA engineers are concerned about the possibility that the Suns ionizing radiations could cause interference with the instructions sent to Mars rovers by engineers. This could lead to corrupted signals that can be used to prompt unexpected and potentially dangerous behavior from off-world robots. According to NASA's announcement, NASA will not send any additional instructions to its rovers between October 2-16.
The CNSA also informed the Chinese state-run media outlet Global Times that the Tianwen-1 space probe, Zhurong rover and Zhurong will halt their work and enter safe mode during transit.
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Assigning Homework
However, just because they aren't receiving any new instructions doesn't mean that they are stopping.
Although our Mars missions will not be as active for the next few weeks they will still inform us about their health, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratorys Mars Relay Network manager Roy Gladden stated in the NASA announcement. Each mission was given homework until they hear back from us.
Curiosity and Perseverance rovers will continue to monitor the weather on Mars. However, many of their instruments will be turned off. The InSight lander will continue to detect marquakes and NASA's Mars orbiters will continue acting as relay stations between Earth, the rovers, whenever possible.
READ MORE: NASA's Mars Fleet Is Low as the Sun Moves Between Earth And Red Planet [NASA]
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