I was looking at the rise and set times for each ground station, looking to see which one would take over once the spacecraft dropped out of view of Goldstone. I noticed that each one shows local time, not GMT. Without looking it up, I have no idea which zone these various places are in so I find that display quite confusing. I hope the spacecraft controller's display isn't like that.
Even if the controller has more training, if he has to do mental calculations instead of reading directly from the screen there will be more chance for errors to occur and it will put a higher cognitive load on the controller.
Does he really have to do a lot of mental calculations, or does he just have to remember that "the satellite as it is currently positioned comes into view of my friend Bob's observatory in Canberra an hour and 15 before he goes home for the day, at 3:45PM local time... and with the way we are moving in relation to each other, it has been coming into view approximately 36 seconds earlier each day that passes."
I understand the sentiment, but the format of this reply is dangerous. It leads to a spiral of negativity and personal attacks. "Two wrongs don't make a right" and all that.
If possible, I'd like to request the assumption of good faith. Hey, at the end of the day, maybe they do know what they're talking about, no? :) Could be an ex Japanese astronaut!
