Curiosity Clock

As featured in Popular Science article, "3 Ways To Go Along For The Ride With The Curiosity Rover".

The Curiosity rover landed in the Gale Crater on the surface of Mars in August 2012.

This interesting app tells you the current Local Mean Solar Time (or Local True Solar Time) at the Gale Crater landing site, and shows the Sol (martian day) number relative to the landing date of the rover.

But that's not all! The display also shows a terrain model of the Gale Crater (as measured by NASA's MOLA instrument) with the sun accurately positioned and the corresponding shadows cast on the landscape. If it is night, the stars should be positioned correctly (plus or minus a few degrees) for the location on Mars.

There are several viewpoints, including Bradbury Landing and Glenelg, that can be selected from the options menu, and it is possible to pan and tilt the view by dragging on the screen.

Finally, if you wish to see the lighting conditions at various points of the day, the time can be offset from the current time by plus or minus 12 hours - simply drag on the time display at the top of the screen.

Thanks for reading, and I hope you enjoy the app!