Re: Martian Chronicles

[Rob Seaman]

On Aug 10, 2005, at 2:06 AM, Peter Bunclark wrote: I quote this out of interest more than an argument, from http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/status.html "The team has been watching Opportunity's power very carefully. It seems that Opportunity is losing some of the power boost it received during the last cleaning event. The solar array wake up time has been getting later each day and is currently 9:48 Mars Local Solar Time. The team has been planning accordingly, taking steps to preserve power where appropriate." I find it fascinating that the only bunch of humans currently operating on a planet other than Earth find it compelling to use local Solar Time. To expand on Peter's observation, Steve Squyres, the PI of the Mars Exploration Rover (MER) mission, was on NPR Science Friday last week:     http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4787318 One of his anecdotes centered on the headaches of operating two separate rovers on opposite sides of the planet at the same time.  As Peter notes, the vehicles are solar powered and operations are naturally scheduled by reference to Local Solar Time - and at two sites separated by thousands of kilometers and many time "zones".  The evocative phrase he used was "Martian jet lag" for the effect it has on project personnel. Rob Seaman National Optical Astronomy Observatory