nPostednon October 24, 2015
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nDidnyou know that there is a record-breaking bit of technology circlingnaround Mars right now?
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nNASA’sn2001 Mars Odyssey is the longest-surviving,ncontinuously-active spacecraft in orbit around a planet other thannEarth.
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nAs of today, Mars Odyssey has been circling Mars exactly 14 years!
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nOfncourse, we are talking about Earth years. As you know, Earth circles around thenSun in about 365 days. And of course, that’s Earth days.
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nButntoday’s record-breaking historical anniversary is all about a satellite circling Mars, not Earth, so maybe we should bentalking about the Martian year and day — not Earth years and days.
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nThenMartian day (the amount of time it takes for Mars to rotate once onnits axis) is just a little bit longer than Earth’s day. To be morenspecific, one Martian day, which is called a sol, is about 2.7% longer than one Earth day.
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nTonbe even more specific:
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ann average Martian day is 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35.2 seconds longn
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n whereas ann average Earth day is (of course) 24 hours long
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n(Mars, like Earth, has a tilted axis, and so most parts of Mars have days that differ in length, according to hemisphere and therefore season, just as most parts of Earth have days that differ in length through the year. On both planets, days / sols are longer in the summer and shorter in the winter. That’s why I gave the AVERAGE Martian and Earth day lengths.)
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nManynEarth scientists and engineers who work on Martian missions usen“Mars time” for those missions. Mars time, in this case, would the “local time” of wherever the exploratorynvehicle is located. In Mars time, seconds, minutes and hours are all 2.7% longernthan those time units are here on Earth. Some team members even have wristwatches calibrated to Martian time.
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nThenMartian year is a lot longer than Earth’s year, because of course Mars is a lot farther away from the Sun and the planet has to travel a much larger orbit. The amount of time it takes for Mars to revolvenaaaaalllllll the way around the Sun is almost 687 Earth days, whichntranslates to about 668.6 sols.
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nSo that means that the Mars Odyssey has been circling Mars forn4,976 sols, or almost seven and a half Martian years.
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nThenprimary mission, the plan, was for the Odyssey to function forn1,007 sols. So it’s lasted almost five times longer than the plan.nHooray for great engineering!!
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nWhatnhas the Mars Odyssey been doing all these years?
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| The label “MARIE,” above, refers to the radiation detecting spectrograph. |
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nThenspacecraft has been using spectrometers and a thermal imaging systemnto detect evidence of past or present water and ice, to study thenplanet’s geology, and to study the planet’s radiation environment. Itnhas also acted as a relay for communications between rovers andnlanders and Earth.
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Speakingnof water on Mars…
Speakingnof water on Mars…n
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nLastnmonth NASA released evidence that liquid waternsometimes still flows on Mars!
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Speakingnof the 2001 Mars Odyssey…
Speakingnof the 2001 Mars Odyssey…n
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nTherenis a very famous movie called 2001: A Space Odyssey. Thenscreenplay, and the book based on the movie, were written bynscientist and science fiction author Arthur C. Clarke. Thisnspacecraft was named to honor Clarke, his visionary fiction, and ofncourse his influential movie. n
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nSpeaking of movies…
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nHavenyou seen the movie The Martian? It’s really good! (It’s rated PG-13,nmostly for strong language.)
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nAlsonon this date:
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nSueznDay in Egypt
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nUnitednNations Day
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nAnniversarynof the discovery of Ariel and Umbriel
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nPlannahead:
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nChecknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nNovembern holidays
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nNovembern birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in November
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