Name: Mars in a Minute: What Happens When the Sun Blocks our Signal?
Uploaded: 2017-01-07T16:45:50.000Z
Duration: 1 min 1 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

What happens when the sun blocks our signal?

About every two years, Earth and Mars wind up on opposite sides of the sun.

It's like being on either side of a huge bonfire:

we can't see Mars, and our landers, rovers, and orbiters can't see us.

If our spacecraft send back signals, charged particles from the sun could interfere,

That's not a big deal: if something's missing, it can always be resent later.

But, no way do we want to lose data when we send up commands.

Receiving a partial command could confuse the spacecraft, putting them in grave danger!

So, mission controllers plan ahead by sending up simple to-do lists, including regular health check-ups.

Back home, this break in communications lets team members catch up on other work...

Solar conjunction lasts just a few weeks.

Then it's back to the grindstone... on Earth and on Mars.

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Mars in a Minute: What Happens When the Sun Blocks our Signal?

interfere

cause

deal

huge