The New York Times' Why Mars Needs Leap Days, Too
“I daresay there have been more different proposals for Mars calendars than there are different calendars for the Earth,” said Michael Allison, a retired NASA scientist.
One of the most popular — the Darian calendar — was created in 1985 by Thomas Gangale, a space law expert. It breaks up the lengthy year into 24 months of 27 and 28 Martian days — each of which alternates between Latin and Sanskrit names for constellations of the zodiac, like Virgo and its Sanskrit equivalent, Kanya.
To keep the calendar in harmony with the Martian seasons, Dr. Gangale proposed that even-numbered years have 668 Martian days (except those divisible by 10), and odd-numbered years have 669 Martian days. That works out to an average of 668.6 — the length of a Martian year.
Question: On what Martian day and time did Curiousity land in the Darian calendar?
"Bonus points" for the same event in Michael Allison's proposed calendar (also discussed in the article).
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