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MarsDial

Sundial used for missions to Mars

MarsDial
Summary

Sundial used for missions to Mars

An image of MarsDial
Spirit]]'' rover on Mars

The MarsDial is a sundial that was devised for missions to Mars. It is used to calibrate the Pancam cameras of the Mars landers. MarsDials were placed on the Spirit and Opportunity Mars rovers, inscribed with the words "Two worlds, One sun" and the word "Mars" in 22 languages. The MarsDial can function as a gnomon, the stick or other vertical part of a sundial. The length and direction of the shadow cast by the stick allows observers to calculate the time of day. The sundial can also be used to tell which way is North, and to overcome the limitations of a magnetic north different from a true north.

The sundial design team included Bill Nye "The Science Guy," space artist Jon Lomberg, and astronomers Woodruff Sullivan, Steve Squyres, James Bell and Tyler Nordgren. CAD design and drawings were done by Jason Suchman. The MarsDial was intended to be part science outreach, part calibration target.

Curiosity (MSL), the rover which landed on Mars in August 2012, used a spare sundial remaining from the Mars Exploration Rovers. It has a new text that reads "Mars 2012" and "To Mars To Explore".

The ball is the nodus, the post is the gnomon. The colors on the corners are for calibrating colors, and the inner circles are in greyscale. There is a mirrored section on the middle circle to reflect the sky.

The sundials are also "message artifacts"something for future human explorers to find.

Time-lapse

[[Time-lapse]] video of an [[analemma]] from Mars, plotting the course of the Sun over a Martian year (about two Earth years)

List

  • MER-A Spirit
  • MER-B Opportunity
  • MSL Curiosity

References

References

  1. [https://pancam.astro.cornell.edu/pancam_instrument/about.html About the Pancam and calibration target]
  2. "Mars Exploration Rover: Mars for Educators: Roverquest".
  3. [https://athena.cornell.edu/kids/sundial.html Cornell University – Sundial]
  4. (22 April 1999). "Martian Sundial Designed For 2001 Space Mission Is Unveiled By Bill Nye 'The Science Guy'". [[Science Daily]].
  5. [http://www.popsci.com/science/article/2012-08/how-mars-rover-curiositys-sundial-will-help-rover-see-mars-living-color Rebecca Boyle (2012). “How A Sundial Lets Curiosity See Mars in Living Color”. ''Popular Science'']
  6. [https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2012/08/01/hawaii-news/big-island-artists-art-to-land-on-mars-again/ ''Hawaii Tribune Herald'' “Big Island artist’s art to land on Mars, again”]
Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

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