Template documentationUsage
This template, {{Marscalc}}, calculates an Earth date and time that correspond to a given day and time on Mars for an event in the NASA Mars 2020 mission of the Perseverance rover and Ingenuity helicopter. The result is shown as a standard calendar date and 24-hour clock time in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC, previously known as GMT).
Parameters
The template requires two parameters: a Sol number and local Mars time.
|Sol=|Mars_time=
Copy and insert the following code where the UTC date/time should go and fill in the parameters:
Example
produces:
April 19, 2021 at 07:34
Method
A single official calendar for Mars does not yet exist, so a numbered Mars day, known as a "Sol", is used in the calculation. NASA or another authoritative agency determines the Sol number for the new event on Mars by counting Sols from the beginning of the mission. The Mars clock time of the event is determined by geographic location and sun position.
The template calculates its result based on the Mars time of the new event and a previously established pair of dates and times for Mars and Earth that represent the same moment. The calculation takes into account that a Mars Sol is a few dozen minutes longer than an Earth day.
NASA and secondary sources provide Sol numbers, but do not always give a UTC time or any Earth time zone for the events on Mars. NASA provides photographs from the events with a timestamp in local Mars time that facilitates the calculation. See here.