Darian (Mars)

A proposed Martian calendar · 24 months of 28 sols

The most worked-out calendar proposed for Mars, devised by Thomas Gangale in 1985. Twenty-four months of 28 sols, every sixth docked to 27, giving a year of 668 sols against the 668.59 Mars actually takes; the shortfall is made up by leap years on a rule of its own. The week is seven sols named for the same planets ours is — Sol Solis, Sol Lunae, Sol Martis and so on — and the months alternate Latin and Sanskrit names for the zodiac, Sagittarius then Dhanus, Capricornus then Makara. Year zero opens at the Martian vernal equinox nearest the invention of the telescope in 1609, which is why the count now stands near 222: four hundred and seventeen Earth years divided by the 1.881 a Mars year takes. Nobody keeps it — no one lives there — so it sits with the other proposals rather than the calendars in use.

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