Coordinated Mars Time

Coordinated Mars Time (MTC) is a special type of time that is used on Mars. Instead of using the same time as on Earth, we use a different time on Mars so that people on Earth and Mars can better communicate with each other. This is a good idea because Mars is farther away than Earth and it takes longer for messages to get to Mars than it does to Earth, so using a different time helps us keep track of everything better. MTC has 24 hours, like Earth time, but it is longer than Earth day. So, while one day on Earth is 24 hours, one day on Mars is almost 26 Earth hours long. This means that if someone on Earth and someone on Mars wish to talk to one another at the same time, the time on Mars will be two hours ahead of the time on Earth.