If it feels like we are bringing you a lot of rocks and ice today, it’s because we are. For the next couple of weeks, we aren’t going to have any new news from one of our favorite planets to cover: Mars. 

If you could look down on our solar system from above, you’d be able to currently see the Earth and Mars forming a line with the Sun. This particular geometry, called conjunction, kills our ability to communicate with our small fleet of missions at Mars. The Sun will effectively block communications with the red planet from October 2 to October 14. This particular alignment occurs roughly every two years, and this is the time that you’ll see folks who handle the Mars missions enjoying some much-deserved time off. We hope they are having a relaxing couple of weeks and look forward to seeing the data they get when Mars reaches the other side of the Sun.

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Mars in our Night Sky (NASA)