Jan 24, 2011 10:45 GMT  ·  By
This is a view of the Santa Maria crater, which Opportunity is currently investigating
   This is a view of the Santa Maria crater, which Opportunity is currently investigating

Our planet and Mars are about to enter a type of alignment called a solar conjunction, which means that the two space bodies are located on the same line as the Sun, with the Red Planet passing behind the star. This event will last for a little more than two weeks.

While this type of alignment has no ill effects on Earth or Mars, it does carry some consequences for missions currently underway on or around our neighboring planet. There are four spacecraft that NASA operates there today, plus one belonging to the European Space Agency (ESA).

In all fairness, the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) Spirit has yet to resume contact, but its sister Opportunity is still very much alive, as are the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and the Mars Odyssey spacecraft in orbit. The ESA Mars Express orbiter is also operational.

The data these spacecraft generally send will now be impossible to receive. While sending and receiving radio signals to and from these space assets is not impossible, there is a very high chance that interferences from the Sun will render the data useless.

This was evidenced less than two months ago, when the Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn since July 1, 2004, received a series of commands that had been damaged by a solar flare. The probe was incapacitated for most of November 2010 as a result.

This is why experts at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), who manage the NASA assets at Mars, took preemptive measures before the solar conjunction began, and uploaded programs that will allow the rover and the two orbiters to operate until contact is reestablished.

JPL scientists expect that they will be able to reestablish contact with Opportunity in about 16 days or so. They are not worried about the rover, because it already got an upgrade last year that allows it to operate with some degree of autonomy, PhysOrg reports.

The actual solar conjunction will begin on Thursday, January 27, and will last until February 11. “Overall, we expect to receive a smaller volume of daily data from Opportunity and none at all during the deepest four days of conjunction,” says JPL rover mission manager Alfonso Herrera.

After traveling more than 20 miles, Opportunity is now located at Santa Maria crater, which it has been investigating for a couple of weeks or so. Tomorrow, January 25, it will celebrate its seventh anniversary, since landing on Mars at Meridiani Planum, on January 25, 2004.