Noctis on Mars

~ A Real Time Virtual Mission To Mars

Noctis on Mars

Daily Archives: 9 January 2016

A Matter of Time

09 Saturday Jan 2016

Posted by Paul Kiser in Mars, Mars 2016, Science Fiction, Space, Space, Virtual Adventures

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Tags

Airy Crater, Mars time, MTC, Noctis Labyrinthus, Pacific Standard Time, PST, Time, Time Zones, UTC

Date: Year 1, Sur One, Sol 6 (1.1.6)

If you understand the reason humans created time zones on Earth, you will understand that we have the same need on Mars. On Mars, time zones are divided into 15° segments of longitude.

Time Zones on Earth for the Americas

Time Zones on Earth for the Americas

On Earth, the beginning point of all time zones is in Greenwich, England. It was referred to as Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) but is now replaced by Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Every time zone on Earth is determined by how many time zones or hours it is from Greenwich. For example, Pacific Standard Time (PST) is currently eight hours behind UTC, so it is referred to as UTC -8.

Mars has been given a similar zone zero, like Earth’s UTC zone. It is located at the Airy Crater and that zone is known as Mars Coordinated Time (MTC). Our primary landing site on Mars is the Noctis Labyrinthus which is seven hours behind the Airy Crater or MTC -7.

As I am writing this post, it is 6:11 PM (18:11) PST, 8 January, 2016, on Earth. The time at our primary landing site on Mars is 8:33 AM (08:33) at what we are calling Noctis Standard Time (NST). The date is 6 Sur One, meaning it is the 6th day of the first month of Sur winter.

However, a day on Mars, (the time it takes the planet to make one revolution,) is 2.7% longer than an Earth day (about 40 minutes longer.) This means that at 6:11 PM PST tomorrow, it will NOT be 8:33 NST on Mars. In fact it will be 7:53 NST. To keep Mars on a 24 hour day scientists have devised a time system for Mars by making each second 2.7% longer than an Earth second.

If you are an astronaut on Mars, this is not an issue; however, if you’re a Mars scientist on Earth then you will experience a Mars ‘time creep’ where each Mars day pushes your Earth schedule 40 minutes forward each day.

As more of Mars becomes occupied by humans the time and day length differences will seem more commonplace; however, it can be confusing when someone says it will take 110 days to reach Mars because you have to know if that is Earth days, or Mars days.

Pages

  • About Noctis on Mars
  • Mars Calendar
  • Media Release
  • Mission Objectives
  • Mission Strategy
  • Noctis on Mars – Part 1
    • Chapter 01: Commissioning Day
    • Chapter 02: Admiral’s Mess
    • Chapter 03: Family Crisis
    • Chapter 04: Valentine’s Night
    • Chapter 05: Stowaway
    • Chapter 06: Au Revoir
    • Chapter 07: Assimilated
    • Chapter 08: First Holiday
    • Chapter 09: Under New Management
    • Chapter 10: Secret Cargo
    • Chapter 11: The Smell of Musk
    • Chapter 12: LOS
    • Chapter 13: Night Shift
  • Noctis on Mars – Part 2
    • Chapter 14: The Closer Enemy
    • Chapter 15: FSB
    • Chapter 16: Silent Killer
    • Chapter 17: Putin’s War
  • Project Schedule
  • Verification

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