Quote from: philw1776 on 11/03/2016 04:04 pmThose living on Mars would want a sunlight oriented system for sols like we have on Earth. I think it's a bad idea to alter the second proportionately as some elsewhere have suggested. Although not noticed by Mars residents it could complicate engineering calculations and be a source of error.My radical Mars quirky solution is to use normal Earth hours minutes and seconds but at midnight when all but the night shift and those wild & crazy late night Mars party animals are asleep, have the clocks go to Red Time where the extra 39 minutes 35.244 seconds are added and counted down before resuming at say 12:01. Mars sols are preserved. Everyone in the inner solar system is using standard seconds, etc. And a party time is enshrined in unique Mars culture.How does that work for multiple time zones? And for shift work?
Those living on Mars would want a sunlight oriented system for sols like we have on Earth. I think it's a bad idea to alter the second proportionately as some elsewhere have suggested. Although not noticed by Mars residents it could complicate engineering calculations and be a source of error.My radical Mars quirky solution is to use normal Earth hours minutes and seconds but at midnight when all but the night shift and those wild & crazy late night Mars party animals are asleep, have the clocks go to Red Time where the extra 39 minutes 35.244 seconds are added and counted down before resuming at say 12:01. Mars sols are preserved. Everyone in the inner solar system is using standard seconds, etc. And a party time is enshrined in unique Mars culture.
I think it could still work fine. It would operate like "overtime" in any familiar sporting event you want to compare against. The final 24th hour of the day would not roll over at 60 minutes past the hour, but keep ticking away to 24h 99min & 35.244 seconds then it's becomes 1am. This would be the case in every time zone. We accept some randomness in our definitions of time periods here on earth. Every four years we have a leap year, where we alter the definition of a year from 365 days to 366 days. Martians will do something like this every night. On Mars, an hour is equal to 60 minutes, with the exception of the last hour of the day, which is equal to 99 minutes & 35.244 seconds. If that's too messy, just call it any name your want, overtime, Red Time, purge time, etc., but define it as 39 minutes and 35.244 seconds, & don't roll over the clock to the next day until that time period is expired..
I think it could still work fine. It would operate like "overtime" in any familiar sporting event you want to compare against. The final 24th hour of the day would not roll over at 60 minutes past the hour, but keep ticking away to 24h 99min & 35.244 seconds then it's becomes 1am. This would be the case in every time zone.
So without timezones. Helas basin colonists would get used to 7:35 being sunrise. and 18:37 being sunset. Of course seasonal variations change that somewhat. Another location would have 23:53 as sunrise and 12:01 (the next day) as sunset.
Quote from: rsdavis9 on 11/04/2016 11:05 amSo without timezones. Helas basin colonists would get used to 7:35 being sunrise. and 18:37 being sunset. Of course seasonal variations change that somewhat. Another location would have 23:53 as sunrise and 12:01 (the next day) as sunset.That is impractical. So when one travels to a different location, how would they know when the start of the day is? When does work start or shops open?
Everytime I travel on earth work and shops change. So do the open/start times. So when doing a big move you get used to different times.
Well, one interesting fact about Mars orbit is that it is more elliptical than Earth's. So, seasons have different lengths (194 to 142 max min). This also means that the difference between sideral and solar day varies with the year.I'm wondering if this could be used to have "built in" time differences (like having certain days with 25hrs and some with 24hs) to keep the year right but both keep the martian year and the solar year closer to the solar cycle.
Quote from: baldusi on 11/04/2016 02:20 pmWell, one interesting fact about Mars orbit is that it is more elliptical than Earth's. So, seasons have different lengths (194 to 142 max min). This also means that the difference between sideral and solar day varies with the year.I'm wondering if this could be used to have "built in" time differences (like having certain days with 25hrs and some with 24hs) to keep the year right but both keep the martian year and the solar year closer to the solar cycle.Thats just the difference between mean sun and actual sun. The equation of time is what it is called. On earth it is 16min. On mars it is larger.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Equation_of_time#Explanations_for_the_major_components_of_the_equation_of_timehttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Analemma#/media/File:Mars_analemma.GIFso the equation of time is about +- and hour.