Mars Rotation
Written by Fraser Cain
For all of its differences, here's one situation where Mars is very similar to Earth. Mars' rotation is 24 hours, 39 minutes, and 35 seconds. In other words, Mars only rotates 39 minutes more slowly than Earth.
Like the rest of the planets (except Venus), Mars rotates in a counter clockwise direction. Standing on the equator, the equatorial rotation velocity is 869 km/h.
When NASA engineers are working on Mars missions, they sometimes convert their schedules to Mars time. Instead of working a normal day on Earth, they synchronize their schedules to the Martian day. This allows them to maximize working time with the rovers and landers. Each day on this schedule, they slip by an additional 39 minutes, so that they're eventually working in the night.
Although Mars' rotation is very similar to Earth, it's still off by that 39 minutes, and when they're working on that schedule, the NASA engineers quickly get exhausted.
Here's an article about how crater impacts measure the ancient equator of Mars. How long is a day on Mars?
Enjoy some Mars facts from NASA, and NASA's Worldbook.
Finally, if you'd like to learn more about Mars in general, we have done several podcast episodes about the Red Planet at Astronomy Cast. Episode 52: Mars, and Episode 91: The Search for Water on Mars.
Filed under: Astronomy
