Anyone who has visted the NASA/JPL website at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html with a Flash-equipped browser has seen that the Mars Exploration Rover teams are keeping Martian mean solar time. This is obviously a requirement for a mission that relies on the sun for power, heating of its motorized parts, and light for its imaging apparatus. From this story http://www.santacruzsentinel.com/archive/2004/February/14/local/stories/01local.htm the rover teams are reportedly also experiencing confusion between terrestrial and Martian solar time.
Even if civilization does spread throughout the solar system, discontinuing leap seconds is not going to alleviate these sorts of problems. -- Steve Allen UCO/Lick Observatory Santa Cruz, CA 95064 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Voice: +1 831 459 3046 http://www.ucolick.org/~sla PGP: 1024/E46978C5 F6 78 D1 10 62 94 8F 2E 49 89 0E FE 26 B4 14 93