Today Mars will pass through superior conjunction, passing behind the Sun from our vantage point on Earth. During this time the red planet will be lost to view, vanishing from the evening sky, but reappearing in the morning sky during the last days of May.
While the Sun blocks our direct view of Mars the probes we currently have on and around Mars will suffer communications interference. For a few weeks mission planners at NASA place the various orbiters and rovers into a reduced communications routine. No commands will be sent to the spacecraft and only basic status updates sent back. This is nothing new, all Mars missions have had to deal with superior conjunction every two years. Once the red planet is clear of the Sun normal mission activities will resume.
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