Nagin Cox: What time is it on Mars?
Nagin Cox: Hoe laat is het op Mars?
Nagin Cox explores Mars as part of the team that operates NASA's rovers. Full bio
Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.
the movie "The Martian."
de film 'The Martian' gezien.
it's a movie about an astronaut
het is een film over een astronaut
and his efforts to stay alive
en zijn pogingen om in leven te blijven
to bring him back to Earth.
om hem terug te brengen naar de aarde.
astronaut Watney, at some point
on Mars until he can be rescued.
totdat hij gered kan worden.
or even if you haven't,
of zelfs zonder dat,
how far away it is and how distant.
hoe ver het is en hoe afgelegen.
have occurred to you is,
of working on another planet --
van het werken op een andere planeet --
and there are rovers or people on Mars?
er zijn wagentjes of mensen op Mars.
families and co-workers
familieleden en collega's
or in other parts of the world.
of elders in de wereld.
to communicate with them,
you probably first think about is:
with colleagues who are in Europe,
die in Europa zitten,
communication when people are far away?
te coördineren als mensen ver weg zijn?
right now, but we do have rovers.
maar wel Marswagentjes.
it is 6:10 in the morning.
is het bij Curiosity 6:10 in de ochtend.
on Mars since the mid-1990s,
sinds het midden van de jaren 90
to work on three of them.
om met drie ervan te mogen werken.
a spacecraft operations engineer,
een ingenieur bij ruimtevaartoperaties
in Los Angeles, California.
in Los Angeles in Californië.
are our robotic emissaries.
robotvertegenwoordigers.
and they see the planet for us
en ze bekijken de planeet voor ons
on other planets through these rovers.
te werk kunnen gaan door deze wagentjes.
on Mars right now,
is longer than the Earth day.
langer is dan de aarddag.
the Earth to rotate,
één rotatie van de aarde,
40 minutes to rotate once.
40 minuten om rond te draaien.
is 40 minutes longer than the Earth day.
40 minuten langer is dan de aarddag.
the rovers on Mars, like this one,
op Mars, zoals dit team.
on Earth, but working on Mars.
maar we werken op Mars.
on Mars with the rover.
met het wagentje op Mars zijn.
of which I'm a part of,
waar ik deel van uitmaak,
to tell it what to do the next day.
die bepalen wat het de volgende dag doet.
or tell her whatever she's supposed to do.
of wat het ook maar moet doen.
and the rover does sleep at night
want het wagentje slaapt echt 's nachts,
to recharge her batteries
the cold Martian night.
zien te doorstaan.
on her program for the next day.
zijn programma voor de volgende dag.
at the same time every day on Mars --
op dezelfde Marstijd te gaan werken --
at work at 5:00 p.m.,
om 5 uur 's middags,
at 5:00 p.m. Mars time every day,
om 5 uur 's middags Marstijd,
on the Earth 40 minutes later every day,
elke dag 40 minuten later beginnen
the next day 40 minutes later at 8:40,
de volgende dag 40 minuten later om 8:40,
in the middle of the night --
in het midden van de nacht --
how confusing that is.
hoe verwarrend dat is.
have been mechanically adjusted
mechanisch aangepast
the rovers back then.
de Marswagentjes waren.
we'll just have the time on our computers
gewoon op onze computers
and that would be enough.
en dat zou genoeg zijn.
working on Mars time,
niet alleen volgens Marstijd,
about what time it was.
over hoe laat het was.
on your wrist to tell you:
om je te kunnen vertellen:
What time is it on Mars?
Hoe laat is het op Mars?
that was confusing;
die verwarrend was;
to talk to each other about it.
om er met elkaar over te praten.
again, 24 hours and 40 minutes.
nogmaals: 24 uur en 40 minuten.
that's happening on the Earth,
dat op aarde gebeurt,
"Oh, let's invent a language."
"O, laten we een taal uitvinden."
walked up to me and said,
die op me af kwam en zei:
on the vehicle tomorrow, on the rover."
met het voertuig, met het wagentje."
or Mars, tomorrow?"
of Marsmorgen?"
we needed a way to talk to each other.
een manier nodig hadden om te praten.
for the words they use.
voor de woorden die ze gebruiken.
and some of you might say "pop."
en anderen zeggen misschien 'fris'.
"nextersol" or "solorrow."
'nextersol' of 'solorrow'.
a few years of working on these missions,
werken aan deze missies merkte,
on the rovers, we say "tosol."
werken zoals wij, 'tosol' zeggen .
landed missions that don't rove around,
werken die niet rondrijden,
you worked on from your Martian accent.
je had vanwege je Martiaanse accent.
and you're detecting a theme here, right?
-- je bespeurt een rode draad? --
could confuse us.
kon ons in verwarring brengen.
you've come to work
from the windows
this image of the control room
van de controlekamer opmaken
about a week before landing,
ongeveer een week voor de landing omlaag
until we went off Mars time.
tot we van Marstijd afgingen.
for the house, for at home.
and my husband is like,
en mijn man zegt dan:
and dark curtains and shades
en donkere gordijnen en zonwering
this darkened environment, but so was he.
verduisterde omgeving, maar hij ook.
emails from him when he was at work.
van hem als hij op zijn werk was.
so he needs a Mars watch.
een Marshorloge nodig had.
so there's an app for that.
en er is natuurlijk een app voor.
we can also use our phones.
onze smartphones gebruiken.
was just across the board;
gold over de hele linie;
who were working on the rovers
die met de wagentjes werkten
one of our flight directors,
een van onze vluchtleiders,
with his family at 1:00 in the morning.
met zijn gezin om 1 uur 's nachts.
to school until September,
naar school hoefden in september
with him for one month.
gedurende een maand.
and had these great adventures,
en beleefden spannende avonturen,
in the middle of the night
that we all discovered
when there's no traffic.
and bother our families,
ons gezin lastig vallen,
in de buurt wat te eten, zeiden we:
going locally to eat something,
all-night deli in Long Beach,
24-uurs restaurant in Long Beach.
it was like the 60s, no traffic.
als in de jaren 60, geen verkeer.
and the restaurant owners would go,
de restauranteigenaar zei:
at 3:00 in the morning?"
om 3 uur 's nachts?"
that there were these packs of Martians,
in the middle of the night --
midden in de nacht --
start calling ourselves Martians.
would refer to ourselves as Martians,
noemde je jezelf Marsbewoner
a time-zone every day,
from everyone else.
van alle anderen.
"I survived Mars time. Sol 0-90."
'Ik heb Marstijd overleefd. Sol 0-90.'
up on the screen.
is because we work on Mars time
is dat we volgens Marstijd werken
with the rover on Mars,
met het wagentje op Mars
for more than three to four months.
niet meer dan drie of vier maanden.
time, which is what we're working now.
Marstijd-schema, waarmee we nu werken.
your bodies, it's hard on your families.
en zwaar voor je gezin.
who actually were studying us
die ons bestudeerden,
to try to extend their day.
om hun dagen te proberen te verlengen.
sleep deprivation experiments on.
and I fell asleep in each one.
en viel elke keer in slaap.
this eventually becomes hard on your body.
zwaar voor je lichaam wordt.
with the other members on the team,
met de andere leden van het team,
steps out into the solar system.
eerste stappen in het zonnestelsel.
on more than one planet.
to become multi-planetary.
om multi-planetair te worden.
a Star Wars movie,
als je een Star Wars-film ziet
from the Dagobah system to Tatooine,
Dagobah systeem naar Tatooine,
people spread out so far.
dat mensen zo ver van je af zitten.
of the distances between them,
de afstanden tussen hen,
separate from each other
to Mars yet, but we hope to.
gestuurd, maar hopen dat wel te gaan doen.
space agencies of the world,
ruimteagentschappen van de wereld
in the next few decades.
paar decennia te kunnen doen.
and we truly will be multi-planetary.
en we zullen echt multi-planetair zijn.
in this audience or listening today.
in dit publiek zitten of dit beluisteren.
on these missions since I was 14 years old
willen werken vanaf mijn veertiende
in the space program,
binnen het ruimteprogramma
you don't have enough time in your day,
dat een dag te weinig uren heeft,
of your Earthly perspective.
een kwestie is van je aardse perspectief.
ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Nagin Cox - Spacecraft operations engineerNagin Cox explores Mars as part of the team that operates NASA's rovers.
Why you should listen
Nagin Cox has been exploring since she decided as a teenager that she wanted to work at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. She was born in Bangalore, India, and grew up in Kansas City, Kansas, and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Her experiences as a child in a Muslim household showed her how easily we separate ourselves based on gender, race or nationality, and it inspired her to do something that brings people together instead of dividing them. The Space Program helps the world "look up" and remember that we are one world. Thus, she has known from the time she was 14 years old that she wanted to work on missions of robotic space exploration.
Cox realized her childhood dream and has been a spacecraft operations engineer at NASA/JPL for over 20 years. She has held leadership and system engineering positions on interplanetary robotic missions including the Galileo mission to Jupiter, the Mars Exploration Rovers, the Kepler exoplanet hunter, InSight and the Mars Curiosity Rover.
In 2015, Cox was honored as the namesake for Asteroid 14061 by its discovers. She has also received the NASA Exceptional Service Medal and two NASA Exceptional Achievement Medals. She is a U.S. Department of State STEM Speaker and has spoken to audiences around the world on the stories of the people behind the missions. She has also served on Cornell University’s President's Council for Cornell Women.
Before her time at JPL, Cox served for 6 years in the US Air Force including duty as a Space Operations Officer at NORAD/US Space Command. She holds engineering degrees from Cornell University and the Air Force Institute of Technology as well as a psychology degree from Cornell. (Sometimes she is not sure which one she uses more: the engineering degree or the psychology degree.)
Cox is currently a Tactical Mission Lead on the Curiosity Rover, and every day at NASA/JPL exploring space is as rewarding as the first. You can contact her at nagincox(at)outlook.com.
Nagin Cox | Speaker | TED.com