Color calibration was the primary function, however these sundials - which are also on the previous Mars rovers - were in fact designed to also be used to show time and season. Originally they were meant to be placed on stationary landers. Since rovers can change direction and latitude, making permanent lines a problem, the solution was to superimpose time indicator lines on the images digitally so the dial can be read, as in this photo from the Spirit rover:
http://www.nasaimages.org/luna/servlet/s/fb8nc5 Here is an article (in PDF) from 2003 describing the design and operation of the Mars sundials: http://www.astro.washington.edu/users/woody/MarsDial.Plan_Rept.Jan04.pdf Don Rogerson > David, > > On > http://wtvr.com/2012/08/03/nasa-mars-rover-curiosity-will-land-early-monday/ > you can read that de 'sundial' is not used to have information "to > calculate time of day, date, and seasons" but as an appliance to color > balance the photgraphies Curiosity made. > > > Willy Leenders > Hasselt in Flanders (Belgium) > > Visit my website about the sundials in the province of Limburg (Flanders) > with a section 'worth knowing about sundials' (mostly in Dutch): > http://www.wijzerweb.be > > > > > > > > Op 10-aug-2012, om 11:03 heeft [email protected] het volgende > geschreven: > >> Dear Diallists, >> I thought you might find this particularly interesting, sent to me by my >> USA-based son. >> >> http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/msl/multimedia/interactives/learncuriosity/index-2.html >> then click on the arrow until you get to the description of the 'Back' >> Click on the sundial (near the top/middle) >> >> Also: >> >> http://www.pcworld.com/article/260579/mars_rover_curiosity_a_complete_guide_to_tagging_along_online.html >> >> >> >> In particular: >> https://twitter.com/marscuriosity >> https://twitter.com/sarcasticrover (unofficial I'm guessing :) >> >> David Brown >> Somerton, Somerset, UK >> >> --------------------------------------------------- >> https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial >> > > --------------------------------------------------- > https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial > > --------------------------------------------------- https://lists.uni-koeln.de/mailman/listinfo/sundial
