The US Aviation and Space Agency (NASA) cannot send a command signal to its satellites in Mars orbit and the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers conducting research on the surface for about two weeks due to the interference of the Sun.
The approximately 2-week communication blackout, which occurs every two years when the Sun enters between the orbits of Mars and Earth, started on November 11 and will last until November 25.
During the outage, the hot, energetic gas that the Sun constantly sprays into space from its outer atmosphere may disrupt the radio signals that NASA will send to communicate with exploration vehicles on Mars.
Disruption in the commands sent by NASA during this period may endanger the missions of orbiters and exploration vehicles on the surface of Mars.
Before the interruption, the Curiosity Rover, which had completed approximately 11 years on Mars, was parked in Gale Crater, and the Perseverance Rover, which was 3,700 kilometers away from it, was parked in Jezero Crater, and in accordance with the instructions they received in advance, Mars’ weather conditions, surface conditions and radiation levels were parked. Will follow the changes.
Perseverance will examine the surrounding rocks and use its cameras to detect clouds and tornadoes called “dust devils,” which are weaker and smaller than tornadoes on Earth.
Perseverance Rover’s aerial exploration vehicle, the Ingenuity Helicopter, will not fly during this period and will use its color camera to examine the movement of sand, which is thought to be one of the biggest and most challenging obstacles to Mars missions.
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