MSL YEAR 2 WINTER & SUMMER TEMPERATURE COMPARISON

       Table 1 shows the number of sols in each Martian month with a total of 669 sols in a Martian year. Mars Science Laboratory is in the southern hemisphere of Mars. Table 2 shows the temperature data released by NASA for the summer of MSL Year 2 and the winter of MSL Years 2 to 3. Summer in the southern hemisphere occurs in months 10, 11 and 12. There are 154 days in MSL's summer and 179 sols in MSL's winter. This article will examine whether NASA-claimed diurnal temperature changes at MSL are likely to be real or manufactured. However, before analyzing the data it must be noted that the ground temperature sensor at MSL is only accurate to 10K/10°C/18°F. See Figure 1.

        On Figure 2 we see that air temperatures drop more degrees at night in summer than in winter although lows are colder in the winter than in the summer. This was looked at because we wanted to get an idea of how cold it would get in the dark so we could compare it with darkness on the Earth’s moon. Daytime on one side of the moon lasts about 13 and a half days, followed by 13 and a half nights of darkness. The sunlight surface can 123° C. The "dark side of the moon" can have temperatures dipping to -153° C. The moon tilts on its axis about 1.54 degrees there are places at the lunar poles that never see daylight.  The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter measured temperatures of -238° C in craters at the southern pole and -247° C in a crater at the northern pole. That’ the coldest temperature recorded in the solar system.

       How do these temperatures compare with Mars? The REMS Team indicates that Mars average surface temperature is -53.15° C and varies widely over the course of a Martian day, from -128.185°C during the polar night to +26.85° C on the equator at midday at the closest point in its orbit around the Sun, with diurnal variations of up to 80–100 ° C.