TED演讲:火星现在是什么时间(4)
So while she’s sleeping — and the rover does sleep at night
当然，在她睡觉的时候，她晚上确实是在睡觉，
because she needs to recharge her batteries and she needs to weather the cold Martian night.
因为她需要给电池充电，而且她需要抵抗住火星晚上的低温。
And so she sleeps. So while she sleeps, we work on her program for the next day.
所以她需要休息。在她休息的时候，我们会为她计划好第二天的工作。
So I work the Martian night shift.
所以我在火星上夜班。
So in order to come to work on the Earth at the same time every day on Mars
为了在火星上每天的同一时间工作，
like, let’s say I need to be at work at 5:00 p.m., this team needs to be at work at 5:00 p.m.
换句话说，我需要每天下午5点上班，这个团队需要在火星时间下午5点上班。
Mars time every day, then we have to come to work on the Earth 40 minutes later every day,
在地球上，我们每天则需要晚40分钟开始工作，
in order to stay in sync with Mars. That’s like moving a time zone every day.
这都是为了和火星同步。就像每天都在换时区。
So one day you come in at 8:00, the next day 40 minutes later at 8:40,
所以今天你8点来，明天就要晚40分钟，8:40来，
the next day 40 minutes later at 9:20, the next day at 10:00.
后天又要晚40分钟，就是9:20来。大后天就是10点。
So you keep moving 40 minutes every day,
每天都要随着这40分钟变，
until soon you’re coming to work in the middle of the night — the middle of the Earth night. Right?
直到你要半夜来上班–是地球时间的半夜哦。没错吧？
So you can imagine how confusing that is.
现在你能想象有多复杂了吧。
纳金·考克斯是第一代火星人。作为美国航天局喷气推进实验室的一名航天器工程师，考克斯工作的团队操控着美国在火星的巡游者探测器。但是在另一个星球朝九晚五的上班很特别，尤其是这个星球还比地球多了40分钟，是很有意思也极具挑战的工作。