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Living on Mars Time

Posted by michael on from the set-your-alarm-clock dept.

Roland Piquepaille writes "When NASA's rovers, 'Spirit' and 'Opportunity,' touch down on Mars next January, scientists and engineers in charge of the missions at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), will start to experiment with a 90-day period of jet lag. Why? Because, as reports Astrobiology Magazine, 'a day on Mars is 39.5 minutes longer than a day on Earth.' To accommodate the requirements of interplanetary communication, during the mission the Spirit science and engineering teams will have to live on Mars time, in synch with the red planet's cycle of light and dark. This means that, here on Earth, they'll sometimes be working during daylight hours, and at other times they'll be working through the night. This summary contains more details and a screenshot of the Mars24 application, a Java program which gives you the time on Mars."

6 of 234 comments (clear)

  1. Mars needs women! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    We must colonize the planet!

  2. HEY GUESS WHAT by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    PENIS!

  3. Territorial Claims? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    I wonder how the U.N. will determine which countries will be able to lay a claim to it? Will it be a first come first server? Will it be a 500km radius rule from wherever a base of more than 5 people exists? Or will be similar to Artic allotment where Argentina, the US, the UK, Japan, Russia, Malta, and Denmark share a "slice" of the pole?

    Don't get me wrong, I think space exploration is a a great thing and definately the kick in the pants that our economy needs now that we have finally defeated the terrorists.

    What do you think?

  4. A mars day by roalt · · Score: -1, Offtopic
    ...a day on Mars is 39.5 minutes longer than a day on Earth...

    Thank you very much for this posting... NOT!

    What do you think will happen when my boss finds out?

  5. DO YOU HAVE STAIRS IN YOUR HOUSE? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic
  6. omg! lololololo!ll!11!! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Offtopic

    Lundi is 'cunt' in Hindi!