the
optimal timekeeping system for Mars
developed by the Mars Time Group in
2001
Acknowledgements
This calendar was constructed using contributions from many people:
 The Mars Time
Group, which at November 2001 included Shaun Moss, John P Darcy,
Francois Guesdon, Steve Heaton, Alex Borders, Linda Naughton O'Meara,
Michelle Moore, and Alberto Ortiz Martinez. We worked together on many
design decisions.
This website,
including the JavaScript programming for the clocks, was produced by Shaun
Moss, who also came up with the term "mir" and the name "Utopian
Calendar".
The term "sol" was
first used by NASA JPL during the
Viking mission. It was also used by Kim Stanley Robinson in his Red Mars, Green Mars, Blue Mars trilogy, and has
since become widely adopted by the Mars community.
Our most valuable
resource was
the Martian Time Website by Tom Gangale, who also created
the Darian Calendar from which we used several ideas,
including having 24 months per mir and 7 sols per week, and the system of
determining leap mirs.
The names for months
based on constellations was developed by Tom Gangale, Francois Guesdon,
John P Darcy, and Shaun Moss.
Names for
sols-of-the-week were developed by Tom Gangale, Shaun Moss, Alex Borders,
John P Darcy, and Linda Naughton O'Meara.
Up-to-date information
about the length of the Martian vernal equinox year was provided by
Michael Allison of NASA (What is a "Year" on Earth or Mars?), as was the notation
for writing mirs as 3 digits (from the Mars Proleptic Calendar).
The idea of counting
mirs from 1609 was proposed by John P Darcy.
The terms "mil" and
"beat" as used in the decimal clock were introduced by Bruce Mackenzie of
the Mars Society.
The term "zode"
meaning one tenth of a sol came from the Martian Tales of
Edgar Rice Burroughs.
If you have any questions or feedback about this website, please email Shaun Moss.
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