NASA's Mars exploration robots will be on their own for the next two weeks while the space agency waits out a natural phenomenon that will prevent normal communications. Mars and Earth have reached positions in their orbits that put them on opposite sides of the sun, in an alignment known as solar conjunction. During this time, NASA says it's risky to try and send commands to its instruments on Mars because interference from the sun could have a detrimental effect. To prevent any issues, NASA is taking a planned break from giving orders until the planets move into more suitable positions. The pause started on Saturday and will go on until November 25.

The software, known as Autonomous Exploration for Gathering Increased Science, or AEGIS, selected inspection-worthy rocks and soil targets with 93 percent accuracy between last May and this April, according to a study from its developers published this week in the journal Science Robotics. AEGIS works with an instrument on Curiosity called the ChemCam, short for chemistry and camera. The ChemCam, a one-eyed, brick-shaped device that sits atop the rover's spindly robotic neck, emits laser beams at rocks and soil as far as 23 feet away. It then uses the light coming from the impacts to analyze and detect the geochemical composition of the vaporized material. Before AEGIS, when Curiosity arrived at a new spot, ready to explore, it fired the laser at whatever rock or soil fell into the field of view of its navigation cameras.

NASA's Mars robot can now decide which discoveries are most important to send back to Earth. A link has been sent to your friend's email address. A link has been posted to your Facebook feed. NASA's Mars robot can now decide which discoveries are most important to send back to Earth.

NASA's Space Robotics Challenge awarded Northeastern University with a $2-million Valkyrie Robonaut 5 (R5) robot, which is now undergoing tests in a Massachusetts warehouse to prepare for the finalist round this June in a virtual simulation of a red-planet landing. The robot arrived at Northeastern in 2015 as part of a proposal that Engineering Professor Taskin Padir sent to NASA for the Space Robotics Challenge software testing, reports Tech Crunch. "They've done all of the hardware and we're developing these high-level capabilities so Valkyrie does more than just move limbs," Northeastern PhD student, Murphy Wonsick told Tech Crunch. "She can autonomously make decisions, move around, and accomplish tasks." Researchers moved the R5 to "NERVE (New England Robotics Validation and Experimentation) Center, a large warehouse space operated by UMass Lowell that houses large obstacle courses designed to put test robots and drones through their paces," just outside of Boston.