MER-A CHRONOS Aliases Cheat-sheet
=============================================================================

Making the time conversion short-cuts (aliases) available
---------------------------------------------------------

   1) start/use "tcsh" as your shell (note that the aliases will not work
      with "csh"!)

   2) "source" CHRONOS aliases file for the activity of interest from 
      the MER GDS setup area:

   %source /mer/gds/setup/naif/aliases.mer2_x

      or directly from the OSS branch for that activity:

   %source /oss/mera/?/?/surface/strategic/ref/naif/misc/chronos/aliases.mer2_?


Command-line short-cuts for MER-A for primary time systems/types
----------------------------------------------------------------

FR\TO |    lsta          ltst        scet         ert          sclk        sclkd
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
lsta  | ------------ lsta2ltst.a  lsta2scet.a  lsta2ert.a   lsta2sclk.a  lsta2sclkd.a
ltst  | ltst2lsta.a  -----------  ltst2scet.a  ltst2ert.a   ltst2sclk.a  ltst2sclkd.a
scet  | scet2lsta.a  scet2ltst.a  -----------  scet2ert.a   scet2sclk.a  scet2sclkd.a
ert   | ert2lsta.a   ert2ltst.a   ert2scet.a   -----------  ert2sclk.a   ert2sclkd.a
sclk  | sclk2lsta.a  sclk2ltst.a  sclk2scet.a  sclk2ert.a   -----------  sclk2sclkd.a
sclkd | sclkd2lsta.a sclkd2ltst.a sclkd2scet.a sclkd2ert.a  sclkd2sclk.a ------------

where the time systems/types are:

   lsta  -- MER-A Hybrid Local Solar Time
   ltst  -- MER-A Local True Solar Time
   scet  -- UTC Spacecraft Event Time
   ert   -- UTC Earth Receive Time
   sclk  -- MER-A on-board clock, byte-based format
   sclkd -- MER-A on-board clock, decimal format

lsta and ltst can be computed only for times after landing.


Command-line short-cuts for MER-A for auxiliary time systems/types
------------------------------------------------------------------

   scet2ett.a/ett2scet.a -- between UTC SCET and UTC Earth Transmit Time

   scet2et.a/et2scet.a   -- between UTC SCET and Ephemeris Time

   scet2doy.a/doy2scet.a -- between UTC SCET in date and DOY format

   sclk2hex.a/hex2sclk.a -- between SCLK in decimal and hex format

   scet2lsun.a           -- L-sub-S for given UTC SCET

   scet2lt.a             -- one-way-light time for given UTC SCET

   scet2pst.a/scet2pdt.a -- UTC SCET to PDT and PST

   scet2pstert.a         -- UTC SCET to PST/ERT

   scet2pdtert.a         -- UTC SCET to PDT/ERT

   chronos.kernels.a     -- display all kernels used by CHRONOS

   chronos.sclk.a        -- displays original SCLK name


Notes on the input/output time formats
--------------------------------------

   SCET and ERT:

      -- on the input SCET and ERT maybe be provided in a wide variety formats
      -- on the output the format is always YYYY-MM-DD HR:MN:SC.###
      -- only a few input formats are not supported, among which  
         is a common DOY format with "/" separating YYYY and DOY;
         for example this SCET "2004/006-12:00" will not work

   Hybrid Local Solar Time (LSTA) and Local True Solar Time (LTST): 

      -- can be computed only for times after landing
      -- must be provided in "SOL DDD HR:MN:SC" format
      -- seconds must not have fractional part
      -- seconds, or seconds and minutes may be omitted
      -- "SOL" marker can upper or lower case but not mixed case

   On-board clock, byte-based format (SCLK):

      -- must be provided in SSSSSSSSS.FFF or SSSSSSSSS:FFF format 
         where SSSSSSSSS are integer seconds (first four bytes of
         5-byte TLM SCLK) and FFF are fractional second (last byte
         of 5-byte TLM SCLK) (Note that FFF is NOT a decimal fraction);
         for example "128363423:129"
      -- may be prefixed with "N/" indicating SPICE SCLK partition
         number; since only one partition is expected for MER-A,
         this prefix should always be "1/" and is normally omitted
         
   On-board clock, decimal format (SCLKD):

      -  must be provided in SSSSSSSSS.DDD.. format where SSSSSSSSS are
         integer seconds and DDD... are decimal fraction
      -- also may be prefixed with partition number
         
   On-board sclk, hexadecimal format (HEX):      

      -- HEX SCLK must be provided in XXXXXXXX.YY or XXXXXXXX:YY format 
         where YYYYYYYY are integer seconds (first four bytes of
         5-byte TLM SCLK) and YY are fractional second (last byte
         of 5-byte TLM SCLK); for example "07A6AB9F:81"
      -- may also be prefixed with partition number

   UTC SCET in DOY format:

      -- the date and time parts must be separated by double
         slash, "//", or "T"; for example "2004-012//12:00:00.000"
         or "2004-012T12:00:00.000", but not "2004-012 12:00"