FRANKFURT, GERMANY — A special innovation has emerged from the collaboration between the European Space Agency (ESA) and technology company Samsung: Galaxy Time – The watch face for our solar system. Do you know what time it is right now on Jupiter? Did you know that a day on Venus lasts 243 Earth days? Users of the watch face for smartwatches, such as the Galaxy Watch6 | Watch6 Classic, will be able to carry the real-time data of our solar system on their wrists in the future.
Something new has emerged from the scientific know-how that ESA has made available to Samsung’s developers. With a glance at their smartwatch, users of the Galaxy Time watch face can take a look beyond the horizon of our home planet into our planetary neighborhood. The exact positions, distances, and times of Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune are calculated and displayed from ESA’s real-time data. Of course, the current time on Earth can also be read.
The problems of humanity seem overwhelming right now. The Galaxy Time watch face broadens our horizon. Our Earth is part of a larger system. Our solar system and our galaxy. The earthly time we experience as days, hours, and seconds does not apply to our neighboring planets. Until now, this was an abstract concept that experts dealt with. Now, everyone can experience a change in the planetary perspective.
ESA scientist Dr. Melanie Heil said, “We want to help people better understand our solar system and its complexity. It is important to look into the future and include the entire solar system beyond our planet. The planetary times make it possible to approach the understanding of the relative character of time and to broaden the horizon in everyday life.”
To achieve maximum precision, Samsung’s developers rely on ESA’s measurements. A minimalist design was derived from the data on the rotation speed and orbit of the eight planets around the sun. A separate dial had to be developed for each individual planet, as the days vary in length on each planet. With a glance at the smartwatch, the Galaxy Time watch face tells us what time it is right now on our neighboring planets. In addition, it offers deeper insights into our solar system. For example, the distance of our neighboring planets to the sun and Earth, the number of their moons, their exact position, and the planetary seasons.
Creative Technologist Viktor Kislovskij commented, “We basically had to rethink the concept of time and clocks. Because clocks are made for the time on Earth. Not for planets where a day lasts less than 10 hours or much longer than on our home planet. The complex data were translated into a minimalist design. With the Galaxy Time watch face, we once again show what is possible with data. We are grateful for the collaboration with the scientists at ESA who made the project possible.”
Leo Burnett Germany, in cooperation with MetaDesign Berlin, is responsible for the creation. Galaxy Time watch faces are available on all smartwatches with the Wear OS operating system and is available in the Google Play Store.
