Understanding Martian Timekeeping

Time moves differently on Mars.

A single Martian day, known as a sol, lasts 24 hours, 39 minutes and 35.244 seconds, slightly longer than an Earth day. A Martian year, one orbit around the Sun, lasts about 668.6 sols, or roughly 687 Earth days.

How Mars Years are counted

Planetary scientists number Martian years from a starting point proposed by R. Todd Clancy and colleagues in 2000: Mars Year 1 began on 11 April 1955, at the northern spring equinox of Mars. Every Mars Year starts at that same point of the orbit, called solar longitude 0°, and the years are counted consecutively. The Mars Climate Database and many mission teams use this count.

Within a year, days are counted by sol, starting with Sol 1. There is also a continuous count, the Mars Sol Date, which has been running since 1873, but for telling a story the year and the sol are enough.

When ICARUS begins

On this count, Mars Year 73 begins on 11 September 2090 and ends on 27 July 2092. ICARUS, the first book of the Mítosz series, opens on Sol 10 of Mars Year 73:

Earth date: 20 September 2090

The story then runs for a little under one Earth year, through a volatile period of Martian colonization, as fragile settlements struggle under political pressure and a hostile environment.

Every chapter is anchored in Martian time, because when survival depends on dust, on sunlight for the solar panels and on the timing of launch windows, every sol matters.

ICARUS, the first book of the Mítosz series, is available as an ebook here and in paperback on Amazon.