To prevent confusion between various expressions of what might be either a terrestrial or Martian Calendar date, names for specific Martian days and months as well as numbers for their years are different from those used on Earth. Month's were named to honor individuals who either participated in early space exploration or who contributed to mankind's understanding of science. Martian months are named in alpha sequence from Aldrin thru Zubrin as an aid for those who might find it difficult remembering the order of all 24 months. Listed in the following table is the length in days of all Martian Calendar months. It is not intended to serve as a calendar, but rather illustrates lengths of major subdivisions of the year.
Most calendar years have month lengths as shown.
This congruence is critical to the use of accumulated Martian statistics for planning future red planet activities.