Working on the NASA Spirit Rover team makes for some strange chronological sacrifices in order to stay coordinated with Spirit’s reports and with planning its daily operations.
[NASA scientist Matt] Golombek and others on the rover team have adopted a Mars schedule, coordinating their waking and sleeping patterns with Martian days, which are nearly 40 minutes longer than those on Earth. They have blacked out their windows to prevent sunlight from coming in. Some even sport watches that measure Mars time.
“My cats are staying with my husband, so they get to stay on Earth time,” quipped mission scientist Wendy Calvin.
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