Curiosity Mars Rover Team Switches Back to Earth Time

The mission controllers overseeing NASA's Mars rover Curiosity are finally switching back to working on Earth time after three months of operating in sync with the Red Planet, where the Martian days last 24 hours and 39 minutes.

The team in charge of Curiosity's instruments and operations at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., had been working in shifts aligned with Martian time for the first 90 Mars days, or Sols, of the mission. Since the start of the Sol is always changing relative to Earth time, the team's start time for daily planning had to be moved a few hours later each week.

A constantly shifting schedule that includes overnight hours can produce ef…
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