Martian Time Messes With Earthling Lives

yifei

Martian Time Messes With Earthling Lives[火星时间让地球人生活大乱]

Cindy Oda and her husband, both NASA engineers, sleep with eyeshades in the middle of the day. After work, they aren't sure whether to say \"good morning\" or \"good night.\"

The cause of this havoc is Mars.

Since the landing of the Spirit rover in January, scientists and engineers at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena have shifted their work schedules to match Mars' alien rhythm.

The Martian day is 39.5 minutes longer than an Earth day, meaning our night and day rarely coincide with Mars'.

To stay in sync with the rover's most productive daylight hours, mission controllers must shift their work schedules as well. Keeping accurate Martian time is important because controllers can schedule work for the solar-powered rovers only during daylight hours on Mars.

But humans make lousy Martians. After millions of years, humans are adapted to 24-hour days. \"I just keep asking, 'What time is it? What time is it?'\" Oda said.

But better Mars than, say, Saturn's moon Titan, where a day lasts 382.69 hours.

Of the nine planets in our solar system, Mars has the most similar \"day\" to Earth. Each Martian day is called a \"sol,\" which, in Earth style, is divided into 24 \"hours.\" But because Mars spins at a slightly slower speed than Earth, its day is just a bit longer 一 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35.244 seconds, to be exact.