Curiosity Shut Down As Solar Flare Heads To Mars

Nasa has powered down its Curiosity rover to protect it against a solar flare that is heading towards Mars.

While the rover is designed to withstand punishing weather conditions on the Red Planet, Curiosity recently suffered a computer problem.

"We're being more careful," said Richard Cook, the project manager of Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which runs the \$2.5bn (£1.7bn) mission.

On Tuesday, scientists noticed a huge flare erupting from the Sun that hurled a stream of radiation in the direction of Mars.

The solar burst also spawned a cloud of superheated gas that was heading towards the planet at two million miles per hour.

Bob Rutledge, of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, said the eruption did not appear severe or extreme, but "middle of the road, all things considered".

Powering down Curiosity means there will be a delay before it can resume analysing the pinch of rock powder it collected from a recent drilling.

And because its instruments are turned off, it cannot use its radiation sensor to track the solar particles. "It's just bad timing," said Mr Cook.

While Curiosity sleeps, the Opportunity rover, which has been active on Mars since 2004, is carrying on with its normal activities.

Opportunity was only meant to operate on Mars for around 90 days, but has so far kept going eight years longer than planned.

The solar tempest is not expected to affect Earth.

However, such outbursts have in the past triggered solar storms with the ability to disrupt power grids, airline flights, satellite networks and GPS services.

They are also known to produce shimmering auroras in places further from the poles.

Since Mars lacks a planet-wide magnetic field, it does not experience geomagnetic storms. Instead, the planet sees a spike in radiation.

Powerful solar blasts can cause trouble to spacecraft on and around Mars.

In 2003, an intense solar flare knocked out the radiation detector on the Odyssey orbiter.