Many can’t wait to finish this 2022, while others will greet it with melancholy… at least on Earth. In our Solar System, in fact, the Martians (or rather, the various robots of the various space agencies) have already celebrated the beginning of the new year, since New Year’s Eve came earlier on Mars: December 26th.
“Number the years of Mars“, write NASA officials on Twitter, “it helps scientists track long-term observations, such as weather data collected by NASA spacecraft over the decades.“
The rules on the Red Planet are different: the arid planet is farther from the Sun than the Earth and it takes about twice as long to go around our star. A year on Mars lasts 687 days and the last time we celebrated the new year on the world Perseverance hadn’t landed yet.
“No, we’re not accidentally celebrating earlyquips the NASA Mars Twitter account. It’s been quite an incredible year for Mars, between the arrival of the NASA rover – which appears to have left behind a lightsaber-like relic -, along with the many records of the Ingenuity drone that they have far exceeded everyone’s expectations.
THE next 687 days will be just as incredible, with new missions, areas to explore and rocks to analyze to discover life! Unfortunately, the year didn’t always go smoothly, as NASA’s InSight lander shut down forever.
