According to NASA’s statement, a natural event that would prevent normal communication has left exploration robots on Mars on their own for the next two weeks. Mars and Earth have reached positions in their orbits that place them on opposite sides of the sun, in an alignment known as solar conjunction. NASA says it’s risky to try to send commands to Mars rovers during this situation because interference from the Sun could have a detrimental effect.
So the space agency is taking a planned pause in issuing orders until the planets reach more favorable positions to avoid any problems. The pause started on Saturday and will continue until November 25.
The Mars Sun conjunction occurs every two years, and although the rovers will be able to send basic health updates home for most of this period, they will remain completely silent during the two days when the sun completely blocks Mars.
This means the Perseverance and Curiosity rovers, the Ingenuity helicopter, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the Odyssey and MAVEN orbiters will be left alone for a while. Devices on the rovers will continue to collect data for their respective missions, but will not send this information back to Earth until the communications blackout ends.
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