Mars Timr

Start from the Beginning

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 21:37:19 -0800

I’m so happy to still have people visiting this site, and I just want to say thank you to everyone for reading our story! When I wrote this blog I meant for it to be read as I posted our activities.

If you’re new to Marstimr, or if you just want to re-read our story, click on the one of the links (you might have to scroll down) to start from the beginning.

The beginning: http://marstimr.tumblr.com/page/6

The Archive: http://marstimr.tumblr.com/archive

P.S. I’m still active on this site, so feel free to post comments or questions in the comments section. You could also ask me a question directly by clicking on the “Ask me Anything” button under the site logo.

A Conclusion of Mars Time

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 19:24:25 -0700

Curiosity: 27M (Sol 27) 18:14 LMST

Earth: September 2, 2012 19:23 PDT

Well here we are; we’ve gone all the way around the clock (and then some)! This truly has been the adventure of a lifetime! As a family, we’ve grown much closer together. As for our adventures, we feel like we’ve taken a vacation.

LA has a whole night world that is invisible during the day. By going on Mars time, we’ve visited that world, interacted with it, and come back. In this way, we’ve had a vacation that many kids our age have never experienced.

Curiosity landed, and this adventure allowed us to take a part in it! We’ve gotten to experience some of what the people who created it have experienced. I feel uniquely privileged to have done this.

Now it’s time to move on. For me this means 8th grade and Lego Robotics (Go Golden Gears!) My sister is moving to 6th grade, and my brother to 3rd. We hope to pursue science, and we hope that someday we’ll be the ones sending things into outer space! We’ll miss Mars time and the world it opened to us, but we welcome the people and friends we get to see again!

Lastly, I have some thanks to give: Thank you Dad for all you do at JPL and at home! Thanks Mom for taking care of us and having so much patience while on Mars time! Thanks to all 56 of my Tumblr followers for their loyalty. Finally, thanks to all of you 17,000+ readers who have kept us going! (I didn’t think I could break 1000 readers!)

Thank you all and remember, “Dare mighty things!”

Taking Down our Shades Mars: 27M (Sol 27) 18:00 LMST Earth:...

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 19:10:00 -0700

Taking Down our Shades

Mars: 27M (Sol 27) 18:00 LMST

Earth: September 2, 2012 19:09 PDT

It’s time to reset our body clocks, so down come the shades. My brother had an especially fun time with the way the velcro sounded! Here are some pictures of him taking his shades down!

Bty, our clocks came full circle on Sept 1

First Day of School Mars: 24M (Sol 24) 07:09 LMST Earth: August...

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 06:01:00 -0700

First Day of School

Mars: 24M (Sol 24) 07:09 LMST

Earth: August 30, 2012 06:01 PDT

The first day of school came round on the 28th, and it’s kind of weird that we’re still almost two hours off of Earth time. We’ve been getting up around 5am and going to bed around 8pm, so we’re very close!

Really Great People Mars: 24M (Sol 24) 07:06 LMST Earth: August...

Thu, 30 Aug 2012 05:59:01 -0700

Really Great People

Mars: 24M (Sol 24) 07:06 LMST

Earth: August 30, 2012 05:58 PDT

On the 27th Bobak came over to have Brunch with us. We played Mario Kart with him and all had a lot of fun! Later we went into JPL for our dinner (your lunch). On the way out we ran into Bill Nye. He made the connection that we were the Mars time family, and he wanted a picture of us! He used his iPhone, and we used a camera. The camera photo is above.

On the 27th our dinner is your lunch. Right now we’re only an hour or two off from normal time. See you soon!

First Day of School

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 04:49:56 -0700

Mars: 22M (Sol 22) 04:49 LMST

Earth: August 28, 2012 07:16 PDT

Today’s the first day of school. We’re up at 4am and have plenty of time to check backpacks and organize forms. I’ll try to post some first day pictures, but first we have to get some.

Our schedules should be back to normal on Saturday the first! Just a few more time zones to go!

Old Town Pasadena at 4am Mars: 22M (Sol 22) 07:12 LMST Earth:...

Tue, 28 Aug 2012 04:46:19 -0700

Old Town Pasadena at 4am

Mars: 22M (Sol 22) 07:12 LMST

Earth: August 28, 2012 04:45 PDT

We woke up around 2am and went to Wokcano restaurant in Pasadena for brunch. The first picture is of us with a terra cotta warrior. After eating we went for a walk. The next picture is of my sister and I underneath a curfew sign that reads, “Hang out after ten, think again.” Our question was, “Ten to what?” The other photos are of Colorado Blvd. For anyone who knows of it, you know that it’s really busy, even late at night. Turns out that at 4am there are street cleaners and an occasional car, but it’s pretty much empty.

A Sum of Mars Time by Dad

Mon, 27 Aug 2012 04:34:00 -0700

Mars: 21M (Sol 21) 07:41 LMST

Earth: August 27, 2012 04:35 PDT

“It feels like we are in the final stretch of our Mars Time adventure. Though we are still getting up early in the morning, the time before dawn is shrinking rapidly and school is starting tomorrow. Soon we will end our journey around the clock, and I would like to share a few thoughts.

First, taking a journey around the clock really is a great adventure for the family and a great bonding experience. It has been great to have the family together on Martian time. There is nothing like coming home from a long day day at work at 4 AM, opening the door, and having the kids run up and yell “Daddy” and then sitting down to eat dinner. It is invigorating, and livens up a dark night. It has brought the family together to wander through the night doing all these different things. I believe we are a closer family at the end of this month than at the beginning.

Second, the city of Los Angeles is really a completely different city at night than during the day. The weather cools down, the traffic disappears, and you can travel from any part of the city to another in 30 minutes by car. Parts of LA have a reputation for being sketchy at night, but we never ran into any of that. The people we met were invariably kind, friendly, and happy to see us (happy to see the kids!) wandering through at 4 AM. And they were invariably interesting. The friendly waitress Nicole, Auggie, the space enthusiast at the bowling alley, Andy at the 24 hours newsstand were all great people we would never have met on Earth time. It was great to see a wonderful side of the city that we had never seen before.

Third, it was hard to lose the social interactions with friends as we moved our schedule though the night. We will look forward to coming back to Earth time (coming back home!) and meeting our friends again, and we’ll have a big party to celebrate.

Fourth, it is a privilege to work on the Mars program. There is nothing like sitting in mission control at 2 AM looking at the pictures newly received from the Rover, knowing that we in the room are the first people on Earth to see them. It has been an honor to work with the most brilliant team of people I have ever met in my career.

Both at work and at home, I will cherish the experiences we have had, the knowledge we have gained, and the friends we have made on this two part adventure: exploring Mars at work and living on Mars Time at home.”

- Dad

Dr. Oh had a Little Lamb Mars: 20M (Sol 20) 20:41 LMST Earth:...

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 17:19:53 -0700

Dr. Oh had a Little Lamb

Mars: 20M (Sol 20) 20:41 LMST

Earth: August 26, 2012 17:17 PDT

Dad is posing with the Mars mission mascot; a stuffed sheep. The sheep has been around since MER (Spirit and Opportunity) and was the mascot for the Integration and Test Team (the guys who built MSL). It was around when Curiosity was being built!

I’m posting this at the end of our Sol; just after 5pm Earth time. Now that our schedule’s coming around we can start using words like tomorrow again! Tomorrow (Monday the 27th) is our last day of summer vacation. During the first week of school we’ll still be shifting our clocks!

CNN on Mars Time Mars: 20M (Sol 20) 12:02 LMST Earth: August 26,...

Sun, 26 Aug 2012 08:25:08 -0700

CNN on Mars Time

Mars: 20M (Sol 20) 12:02 LMST

Earth: August 26, 2012 08:24 PDT

On Sol 19, we got to go to the Hollywood CNN studio to talk about Mars time. It was really fun getting to see the inside of a tv studio, but we were all a bit rattled when we were told that we would be broadcasting live. Everyone was really nice, and we had a great time! (My little brother doesn’t like to be on tape, so he didn’t come)

http://edition.cnn.com/video/#/video/us/2012/08/25/mars-rover-family.cnn

Around the World in 30 Days Mars: 19M (Sol 19) 19:45 LMST Earth:...

Sat, 25 Aug 2012 15:38:00 -0700

Around the World in 30 Days

Mars: 19M (Sol 19) 19:45 LMST

Earth: August 15, 2012 15:39 PDT

Well here we are with a schedule that is quickly becoming normal! Dad has a quote that he uses to describe th Mars time concept. He likens Mars time as to jumping a time zone every day, and going around the world in 30 days. We are currently in Reykjavik, Iceland and solmorrow will be over the Atlantic. Up next is St. John (Newfoundland), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and then Boston, here in the USA!

These pictures are of us shopping for last minute school supplies and eating dinner (at noon) at the local Panera Bread. (Bty, the Time magazine is about Mars!) Both happened during the day with lots of other people. Sadly our nighttime adventures are coming to an end.

Groceries and Blue Tongues Mars: 18M (Sol 18) 08:59 LMST Earth:...

Fri, 24 Aug 2012 03:57:13 -0700

Groceries and Blue Tongues

Mars: 18M (Sol 18) 08:59 LMST

Earth: August 24, 2012 03:56 PDT

We’d gone out and decided to get some slurpees at the local 7/11. While there we discovered a fedora hat rack, so of course we had to try some on. Our schedules have come around enough that we can go shopping as stores open. We needed some food for dinner, so we stopped by Ralph’s at 6am, just as it opened. Inside we discovered that special covers are put over the refrigerators, and that our tongues turn blue from blue raspberry slurpees.

Nocturnal JPL Mars: 17M (Sol 17) 18:58 LMST Earth: August 23,...

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 13:34:05 -0700

Nocturnal JPL

Mars: 17M (Sol 17) 18:58 LMST

Earth: August 23, 2012 13:32 PDT

As our schedules come around, our adventures are becoming less and less nighttime oriented. This nighttime photo of the JPL campus is probably one of the last nighttime pictures I’ll ever post. :(

The other picture is of the elevator right outside Mission Control. Perhaps we should have a vote; cool or creepy?

Bty, it’s 1:30pm (ish) and we’re about to go to bed. In not too long we’ll be back on daylight hours!

Biking at the Rose Bowl Mars: 17M (Sol 17) 14:00 LMST Earth:...

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 08:26:55 -0700

Biking at the Rose Bowl

Mars: 17M (Sol 17) 14:00 LMST

Earth: August 23, 2012 08:26 PDT

For the first time in a while we’ve had a normal looking photo. We went biking from 6 to 7am around the Rose Bowl. There were a considerable number of people there, but the difference between us and them is that we’d been up all night.

Our schedule is starting to wrap around. Right now we’re waking up between 10 and 11pm (at night), and going to bed between 1 and 2pm (of the next day). For us, school starts on the 28th, so we should be waking up between 3 and 4am on the first day of school!

Cabin Fever... in California?

Thu, 23 Aug 2012 01:50:55 -0700

Mars: 17M (Sol 17) 07:34 LMST

Earth: August 23, 2012 01:50 PDT

Now that we’ve been on Mars time for almost a month, we’re starting to feel some side effects. We think we are feeling a mild form of cabin fever. There are two main things that are effecting us; Sunlight and people.

Sunlight not only provides vitamin D, but it also effects attitude. Some people on MER suffered from depression due to lack of sunlight. We don’t feel depression, but we do feel cooped up. We try to go out during daylight hours and that helps us feel less stuck indoors.

The biggest problem we have is with people. It’s been great being together as a family, and we’ve had some really important bonding time. However, being with the same people 24/7, and not seeing anyone else (for the most part) gets to you after a month. This week we’ve arranged times to see friends to help combat it. We are actually looking forward to school just so we can see other people! (This is not saying that we don’t get along - there have actually been less arguments since we’ve been on Mars time)

I’d just like to thank all my readers and followers. I didn’t think that I could get more than 1000 hits all month, but I’m currently at over 14,000 hits! Thanks so much!

This is All Things Considered… about Mars time? Mars: 16M...

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 05:20:01 -0700

This is All Things Considered… about Mars time?

Mars: 16M (Sol 16) 11:36 LMST

Earth: August 22, 2012 05:19 PDT

Mom and Dad were invited to be on NPR’s “All Things Considered” radio program. Mom was excited to be in a radio studio to be recording for a real program. They got to meet Melissa Block (who hosts “All Things Considered”) who made a ton of references to this blog! They took some pictures and let me post them, so here you go!

This link is to the article:

http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2012/08/21/159579181/jet-lagged-nasa-engineer-and-his-family-are-living-on-mars-time

Bonaventure Adventure Mars: 16M (Sol 16) 07:03 LMST Earth:...

Wed, 22 Aug 2012 00:39:52 -0700

Elevator

Top floor

Newsstand

Spacecraft?

Bonaventure Adventure

Mars: 16M (Sol 16) 07:03 LMST

Earth: August 22, 2012 00:38 PDT

We were driving around downtown LA and decided to stop by the Bonaventure Hotel. The first three (or four) floors were designed to be a shopping center. There’s a nightclub on the first floor that we walked by. It was really loud, and there were tons of people despite the fact it was 1am (with that going on, I don’t know how the people upstairs fell asleep). The elevators are really cool; they’re glass, and travel 35 stories high!

There was an AP press release about us, so we stopped by Hollywood to find a 24 hour newsstand. On the way we saw this advertisement for Spacecraft (we actually have no idea what it is). We thought it was cool, so we took a picture by it. We found the newsstand, and we found us in the Pasadena Star Times!

Ryan’s FYI - Nova episode about Mars Mars: 15M (Sol 15)...

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:53:36 -0700

Ryan’s FYI - Nova episode about Mars

Mars: 15M (Sol 15) 05:01 LMST

Earth: August 20, 2012 21:53 PDT

This email is a few months overdue, but for those of you interested in Mars this might be fun.

We’ve Gotten huge! Mars: 15M (Sol 15) 04:58 LMST Earth:...

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 21:51:27 -0700

We’ve Gotten huge!

Mars: 15M (Sol 15) 04:58 LMST

Earth: August 20, 2012 21:50 PDT

We have grandparents who live just outside of Birmingham, Alabama. They sent us this newspaper article they found in The Birmingham News. This is the first paper copy of us we’ve found, but if you Google “Mars time family” a whole plethora of articles about us pop up. We’ve even seen news websites from the UK and the Middle East that talk about us!

Grunion Run Mars: 14M (Sol 14) 10:52 LMST Earth: August 20,...

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 03:15:07 -0700

Grunion Run

Mars: 14M (Sol 14) 10:52 LMST

Earth: August 20, 2012 03:14 PDT

We went out to the Santa Monica Pier around 11pm. We explored the pier (there were more people there then there were in Hollywood!) and headed down to the beach. We’d heard of the Grunion run when Grunion fish come up on the beach to spawn. Apparently they ride the waves onto the beach, flop around, and ride the waves back in.

We came at the end of the season when there weren’t many Grunion, but there were still a lot of Grunion hunters combing the beach. They were armed with buckets, not fishing poles, and were hoping to pick them up off the beach.

I thought I saw some, but we didn’t have very good luck finding any others. The beach is pretty fun at night!