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Martian Timekeeping
Topic Started: Feb 28 2016, 09:00 PM (33 Views)
Dorothy Catalonia
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When people started staying on Mars for extended periods, it was clear that days of the week would need to be named and a calendar developed. Centuries earlier, in anticipation of journeying to Mars, calendars had been developed, but they had been lost by this point. Only portions of a few had survived, and there was fierce debate over what to keep and how.

New weekdays needed to be named as the Martian week and Earth/Terran week are not synchronized. A Martian day (called a "sol") is roughly 40 minutes longer than an Terran day. Therefore, Martian hours, minutes, and seconds are 2.7% longer than their Terran counterparts. [1] (NOTE: If you clicked the Wikipedia link and the timezone table is still up, Elysia is on Western Elysian Time (WET), which is AMT+10, if you were curious.)

While waiting on the calendar and days of the week, scientists and engineers on Mars named the days and months based on numbers, essentially Sol # and Month # in Latin. The old months fell out of use, but there are still a few applications that use the old days of the week, though the number is diminishing.

Days of the Week
Terran WeekSundayMondayTuesdayWednesdayThursdayFridaySaturday
Martian WeekHelisolLunaesolTerrasolMercurisolJovisolVenerisolSaturnisol
Old Martian WeekSeptisolUnisolDuosolTresolTetrasolPentasolHexasol


There are 668 sols in a standard Martian year; every five years is a leap year with 671 sols. The year is divided between 22 months. The months (except for the second) have 30 or 31 days. The length of months and rough structure of the calendar is based off the structure of the Gregorian calendar, which the majority of citizens from ESUN will be most familiar with. The length of the month has nothing to do with the orbital periods of Mars’ moons because they are so short (Phobos is about 7.65 Terran hours/7.45 Martian hours; Deimos is roughly 30.3 Terran hours/29.55 Martian hours).

Below is the list of the months along with their lengths (Ferruary gets 3 extra days every leap year) and rough meanings.

Martian Calendar
Season (NH/SH)#MonthLengthMeaning/Notes
Winter/Summer01Principiary31beginning (Latin: principium)
02Ferruary26iron (Latin: ferrum) [Note: 29 days every leap year]
03Nerine31Nerio, consort to Mars, war goddess and personification of valor
Spring/Autumn04Ver30spring (Latin: ver) [Note: First day of spring in northern hemisphere around the 11th]
05Concordiary31Concordia, daughter of Mars, embodiment of agreement in marriage and society, often associated with Pax
06Ultor30epithet of Mars, associated with vengeance
07Viridember31green (Latin: viridis)
08Asaphus30Asaph Hall, discoverer of the Martian moons
09Lupa31she-wolf (Latin: ver), from the story of Romulus and Remus
Summer/Winter10Estivuary30summer (Latin: aestas) [Note: First day of summer in northern hemisphere around the 22nd]
11Rubidary31red (Latin: rubidus)
12Silviary31Rhea Silvia, mother to Romulus and Remus
13Tredecember30thirteen (Latin: tredecim)
14Picuary31woodpecker (Latin: picus), sacred animal to Mars
15Quindecember30fifteen (Latin: quindecim)
Autumn/Spring16Autumber31autumn (Latin: autumnus) [Note: First day of autumn in northern hemisphere around the 17th]
17Septemdecember30seventeen (Latin: septemdecim)
18Bellonary31Bellona, goddess of war, consort of Mars
19Quiriny30early name for Roman citizens/civilians (Latin: quirites)
20Darian31name of lost, early Martian calendar, named for son of Thomas Gangale, aerospace engineer and political scientist who created the Darian calendar
Winter/Summer21Huiember30winter (Latin: hiems) [Note: First day of winter in northern hemisphere around the 6th]
22Terminary31ending (Latin: terminus)

 
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