Earth and Mars will Pause Chatter

The daily exchange of data between antennas on Earth and those on NASA spacecraft at Mars is about to get much quieter for a few weeks because of Mars solar conjunction. For NASA’s spacecraft, this will happen between August 28 and September 7.

The cause

  • During Mars solar conjunction, Mars and Earth will be on opposite sides of the Sun.
  • The Sun expels hot, ionised gas from its corona, which extends far into space. During solar conjunction, this gas can interfere with radio signals when engineers try to communicate with spacecraft at Mars, corrupting commands and resulting in unexpected behaviour ....
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