MarsDial

An image of MarsDial MarsDial on 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.[1] The MarsDial can function as a gnomon, the stick or other vertical part of a sundial.[2][3] The length and direction of the shadow cast by the stick allows observers to calculate the time of day.[2] 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.[2]

The sundial design team[4] 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.[5] It has a new text that reads "Mars 2012" and "To Mars To Explore".[5]

The ball is the nodus, the post is the gnomon.[3] The colors on the corners are for calibrating colors, and the inner circles are in greyscale.[3] There is a mirrored section on the middle circle to reflect the sky.[3]

The sundials are also "message artifacts"—something for future human explorers to find.[6]

## Contents

* 1 Time-lapse
* 2 List
* 3 See also
* 4 References
* 5 External links

## Time-lapse

File:Mars Analemma Time Lapse Opportunity.webm

## List

* MER-A Spirit[1]
* MER-B Opportunity[1]
* MSL Curiosity[5]

## See also

* Phoenix (spacecraft) (Phoenix Mars lander has a DVD)
* Voyager Golden Record

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 About the Pancam and calibration target
2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Mars Exploration Rover: Mars for Educators: Roverquest". https://mars.nasa.gov/mer/classroom/marsdial/.
3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 Cornell University – Sundial
4. ↑ "Martian Sundial Designed For 2001 Space Mission Is Unveiled By Bill Nye 'The Science Guy'". Science Daily. 22 April 1999. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/1999/04/990422055433.htm. "The sundial design team included Jon Lomberg, an artist and creative consultant to the Mauna Kea Center for Astronomy Education, Hawaii; Tyler Nordgren, an artist and astronomer at the U.S. Naval Observatory in Flagstaff, Ariz.; sundial expert Woodruff Sullivan, professor of astronomy at the University of Washington; Louis Friedman, executive director of the Planetary Society; Cornell University astronomers Steven Squyres and Jim Bell; and Bill Nye, the television writer and host of the public television children's science program, ’Bill Nye The Science Guy’."
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Rebecca Boyle (2012). “How A Sundial Lets Curiosity See Mars in Living Color”. Popular Science
6. ↑ Hawaii Tribune Herald “Big Island artist’s art to land on Mars, again”

## External links

* Curiosity's Marsdial is on Mars (The Planetary Society)
* The Planetary Society's page covering the MarsDial
* Make your own MarsDial! also Planetary.org instructions
* MSL's sundial on Mars

* v
* t
* e

Mars Exploration Rover (MER) program

General|

* Spirit rover (MER-A)
* Opportunity rover (MER-B)
* Scientific information

Spirit rover|

* Gusev crater
* Surface features of Mars imaged by Spirit

Opportunity rover|

* Timeline
* Meridiani Planum
* Argo crater
* Eagle crater
* Endeavour crater
* Surface features of Mars imaged by Opportunity

Instruments|

* APXS
* Cameras (Hazcam, Navcam, Pancam, Microscopic Imager)
* MIMOS II
* Mini-TES
* Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT)
* Rover embedded computers
* MarsDial (Calibration Target/Plauque)

Related|

* Computers (IBM RAD6000)
* DSN
* JPL
* Maestro
* Rocker-bogie
* Rockets (Delta II Heavy)
* Cleaning event
* 37452 Spirit
* 39382 Opportunity

* v
* t
* e

Mars Science Laboratory

General|

* Curiosity rover
* Timeline of Mars Science Laboratory

Instruments|

* APXS
* ChemCam
* CheMin
* DAN
* DRT
* Hazcam
* MARDI
* MAHLI
* MastCam
* Navcam
* RAD
* REMS
* Robotic arm
* SAM

Features|

* MarsDial
* MMRTG
* Rocker-bogie

Sites|

* Mount Sharp (Aeolis Mons)
* Aeolis Palus
* Bradbury Landing
* Gale Crater
* Glenelg
* Peace Vallis
* Rocknest
* Yellowknife Bay

Rocks|

* Bathurst Inlet
* Coronation
* Goulburn
* Hottah
* Jake Matijevic
* Link
* Rocknest
* Rocknest 3
* Tintina

* Book
* Category

* v
* t
* e

Mars 2020

Science payload|

* Mars Helicopter Scout
* Mastcam-Z
* MEDA
* MOXIE
* PIXL
* RIMFAX
* SHERLOC
* SuperCam

Features|

* MarsDial
* MMRTG
* Rocker-bogie
* Sky crane

Proposed
landing sites|

| Selected|

* Jezero crater

|

Finalists|

* Columbia Hills in Gusev crater
* Jezero crater
* Syrtis Major Planum

Other|

* Eberswalde crater
* Holden crater
* Mawrth Vallis
* Nili Fossae
* Melas Chasma

* Book
* Category

* v
* t
* e

Mars

Outline of Mars

Geography|

| Atmosphere|

* Circulation
* Climate
* Dust devil tracks
* Methane

|

Regions|

* Arabia Terra
* Cerberus (Mars)
* Cydonia
* Eridania Lake
* Iani Chaos
* Olympia Undae
* Planum Australe
* Planum Boreum
* Quadrangles
* Sinus Meridiani
* Tempe Terra
* Terra Cimmeria
* Terra Sabaea
* Tharsis
* Undae
* Ultimi Scopuli
* Vastitas Borealis

Physical
features|

* "Canals" (list)
* Canyons
* Catenae
* Chaos terrain
* Craters
* Fossae
* Gullies
* Mensae
* Labyrinthi
* Mountains
* by height
* Observed rocks
* Outflow channels
* Plains
* Valley network
* Valleys
* Gravity

Geology|

* Brain terrain
* Carbonates
* Chaos terrain
* Color
* Composition
* Concentric crater fill
* Dark slope streak
* Dichotomy
* Fretted terrain
* Geysers
* Glaciers
* Groundwater
* Gullies
* Lakes
* Lava tubes
* Lobate debris apron
* Marsquake
* Meteorites
* on Earth
* on Mars
* Mud cracks
* North Polar Basin
* Ocean hypothesis
* Ore resources
* Polar caps
* Recurring slope lineae (RSL)
* Ring mold craters
* Rootless cones
* Seasonal flows
* Soil
* Spherules
* Surface
* "Swiss cheese" feature
* Terrain softening
* Tharsis bulge
* Volcanology
* Water
* Yardangs

History|

* Amazonian
* Hesperian
* Noachian
* Observation history
* Classical albedo features

Astronomy|

| Moons|

* Phobos
* Stickney crater
* Monolith
* Deimos
* Swift crater
* Voltaire crater

|

Transits|

* Solar eclipses on Mars
* Satellite transits
* Phobos
* Deimos
* Planetary transits
* Earth
* Mercury

Asteroids|

* Mars-crossers
* 2007 WD5
* Trojans
* 5261 Eureka
* 1998 VF31
* 1999 UJ7
* 2007 NS2

Comets|

* C/2013 A1 (Siding Spring) (Mars close approach, 19 Oct 2014)

Exploration|

| Concepts|

* Flyby
* Orbiter
* Landing
* Rover
* Sample return
* Human mission
* Permanent settlement
* Colonization
* Terraforming

|

Missions|

* List of missions to Mars

Advocacy|

* The Mars Project
* The Case for Mars
* Inspiration Mars Foundation
* Mars Institute
* Mars Society
* Mars race

Related|

* Artificial objects on Mars
* Memorials on Mars
* Fiction
* List of films set on Mars
* Martian
* Martian scientist
* Mythology
* Phobos and Deimos in fiction
* Flag of Mars
* Life on Mars
* Sub-Earth
* Timekeeping on Mars
* Darian calendar

* Book
* Category

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