Living On The Moon....

[mosaix]

Ok, suppose we've got a permanent base on the Moon. What's the best way for the inhabitants to run their clocks?

Do you think they would work to a regular 24 hour day, so that communication with Earth was easier, even though sometimes it would be dark outside?

 

[Nik]

Um, think Alaska / Antarctic posting, with lonnng days and lonnnnger nights. Or a Boomer, with no days or nights. They'll probably work zulu-time...

 

[Porridge Beast]

It would be easier to run on Earth's 24 hour schedule-definately. Real question is- will it matter how they can contact Earth for help when I get there?

 

[chrispenycate]

Twenty four hour, definitely. Human physiology isn't adapted to twenty-eight day cycles (no, not those cycles, sleep cycles. I wasn't even thinking of being sexist, honest)

I suppose it'll probably be on Houston time, or East coast, rather than universal Greenwich, though.

 

[Vladd67]

What time is used on the international space station?

 

[chrispenycate]

GMT - It's international.

That way it's about equally inconvenient for the Russians and the Americans…

 

[Ursa major]

I guess it depends on whose permanent base it is; but putting that aside for a moment, it would be Universal Time - but which one ()?

 

[Urien]

China time, next door to India. Down the street will be the US prefab, and just beyond that the European Union's shanty moon base made of old satellites and chewing gum.

 

[Leo]

LOL, AVS
Now, a bit further into the future, several bases here and there, each with their time zone, and the beginning of a puzzling time map and jet lag.

 

[Dagny]

Ok, suppose we've got a permanent base on the Moon. What's the best way for the inhabitants to run their clocks?

i'd think 24 hour GMT time. if the base on the moon doesn't have any windows (darn drafty windows!), people living there wouldn't know if it was dark or light outside anyways.

 

[Drachir]

Sounds like a bit of a lunatic topic to me.

 

[gully_foyle]

What about on Mars? Should a martian day be 24 hours and 37 minutes, or should it be forced to rotate slower. Personally I would welcome the extra 37 minutes of sleep time.

 

[Ursa major]

The Moon is a special case: it's close enough to allow real-time communications.

With other destinations (e.g. Mars), it probably doesn't matter so much, though the funding body (public or private) would probably want those it's funding to be "around" at times it would find convenient. Once a place gets a significant degree of independence of Earth, all bets are off.

 

[mosaix]

The scenario is in a short story. It's a research base so the staff will be working inside and outside and communicating regularly with their home countries which are mainly European.

So it's going to be a 24 hour clock, GMT, working during the 'day', sleeping at 'night' and working outside during the 'day' regardless of the presence of sunlight or not.

I guessed it would be that way, but thanks for your input.

 

[Nik]

FWIW, Mars is almost a no-brainer. It needs *two* time systems. One is eg zulu-time to co-ordinate data & comms. The other is tied to the longer 'sols', like coastal communities live with the shifting time of tides...

Um, you can get 'tide clocks' and 'tide watches' that track the longer cycle on Earth, surely can't be too hard to tweak such for 'Sols' ??