For one family, an exotic summer getaway means living on Mars.
Martian time, that is.
Since the landing of NASA's newest Mars rover, flight director David Oh'sfamily has taken the unusual step of tagging along as he leaves Earth timebehind and syncs his body clock with the red planet.
Every mission to Mars, a small army of scientists and engineers reports to dutyon "Mars time" for the first three months. But it's almost unheard offor an entire family to flip their orderly lives upside down, shifting to whatamounts to a time zone change a day.
Intrigued about abiding by extraterrestrial time, Oh's wife, Bryn, could notpass up the chance to take their kids — 13-year-old Braden, 10-year-old Ashlynand 8-year-old Devyn — on a Martian adventure from their home near the NASA JetPropulsion Laboratory where the Curiosity rover was built.
"We all feel a little sleepy, a little jet-lagged all day long, buteveryone is doing great," Bryn Oh said, two weeks into the experiment.
Days on Mars last a tad longer. Earth rotates on its axis once every 24 hours —the definition of a day. Neighbor Mars spins more lazily. Days there — known assols — last 39 minutes and 35 seconds longer than on Earth. The difference maynot seem like much each day, but it adds up.
To stay in lockstep, nearly 800 people on the $2.5 billion project havesurrendered to the Martian cycle of light and dark. In the simplest sense, eachday slides forward 40 minutes. That results in wacky work, sleep and eatingschedules. Many say it feels like perpetual jet lag.
The Oh family broke in slowly. A sign on their front door warns: "On MarsTime: Flight Director Asleep. Come Back Later."
Days before Curiosity's Aug. 5 touchdown, the children stayed up until 11:30p.m. and slept in until 10 a.m. In the beginning, it wasn't much different froma typical day on summer vacation. As the days wore on, they stayed up later andlater, waking up in the afternoon and evening.
One day last week, the family ate a 3 p.m. breakfast, 8 p.m. lunch, 2:30 a.m.dinner and 5 a.m. dessert before heading off to bed.
To sleep when the sun is out, their bedroom windows are covered with aluminumfoil or cloth to keep out any sliver of light. In the hallway, a handmadecalendar keeps track of the days and schedules are written on an oversizedmirror. A digital clock in the master bedroom is set to Mars time.
Bryn Oh keeps a meticulous spreadsheet updated with her husband's work hoursand the family's activities. They wear a wireless device that monitors theirsteps, calories burned and sleep patterns.
When David Oh tells co-workers on Mars time and friends on Earth time about theswitch: "Some of them think it's really cool to have the kids along. Somewho worked on other Mars missions have said, 'You're crazy.'"
Being night owls has its perks: Braden, Ashlyn and Devyn saw their firstshooting star. The family went on night hikes in the hills around theneighborhood. They had a late dinner in Hollywood and gawked at streetperformers on the Walk of Fame with other tourists. They saw a midnight screeningof a zombie film and then went bowling.
One night, Bryn Oh took the children biking in an empty parking lot. Theyoungest shed his training wheels, and for the first time, pedaled around.
Of the three, Ashlyn has the most difficulty sticking to the Mars rhythm. Shetends to wake up too early and balks at naps.
"It's awesome, but it's tiring" she said.
Braden thrives on the weird hours. What teenager doesn't like staying up aslate as possible and having frozen yogurt at midnight? He started a blog detailingthe family's experiences.
Earthly sacrifices were made. The family traded a real vacation for a glorifiedstaycation. Dental appointments, harp lessons and play dates were scheduledaround when the kids were awake, which was a moving target every day.
Still, they managed to host a party a week after the landing, throwing aMars-themed backyard barbecue complete with a cake shaped like Gale Crater,Curiosity's new home, and topped with candles shaped like stars.
Bryn Oh said it's easy to lose track of what day it is. A simple question like"What time is it?" is difficult to answer. Do you mean Earth time?Curiosity time? The time that their bodies think they're on?
For the mission workers, the schedule is also more grueling than in the past.Their work hours tend to whiplash around depending on when orbiting spacecraftfly over the rover landing site to relay signals to Earth. One shift sends upcommands spelling out what Curiosity will do for the day; another pores overthe pictures beamed back.
To cope, workers talk as if they're on Mars, saluting "Good morning"to one another even though it might be dark outside. Cots are available forsiestas. There's also free ice cream — "a little pick-me-up in the middleof the night," said mission manager Mike Watkins.
Watkins said it's tough for anyone to stray from Earth time let alone a family.
"It's something they're going to remember the rest of their lives,"Watkins said.
There have been growing pains. David Oh accidentally showed up to work an hourearly one time. The youngest tended to get tired at night.
The family recently reached a milestone: Staying up through sunrise andsleeping during the day.
And just as the children get used to Mars time, they'll have to reboot laterthis month when they revert to their terrestrial ways in time for the start ofschool.