NASA working to develop standardized lunar time zone
- Lunar Time (LTC) calculated by weighted average of atomic clocks
- NASA says LTC is 'part of safe, resilient, and sustainable' operations
- White House directive in April called for LTC's creation
FILE – A plane passes in front of the moon, Aug. 30, 2023, in Chicago. Scientists have confirmed a cave on the moon, not far from where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin landed 55 years ago this week, and suspect there are hundreds more that could house future astronauts. (AP Photo/Kiichiro Sato, file)
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(NewsNation) — It’s five o’clock somewhere — and soon, that’ll include our moon.
After months of calls for a lunar clock, NASA announced it would “coordinate with U.S. government stakeholders, partners, and international standards organizations” to establish Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC).
The new time zone would be determined by a weighted average of atomic clocks on the moon, the same method used to calculate Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) here on Earth.
Current estimates of the gravitational differences between Earth and the moon mean lunar time would gain about 56 microseconds per day on the Blue planet.
Though it sounds miniscule, that difference will add up in outer space. NASA likened those 56 seconds to the time it takes to travel across 168 football fields when moving at the speed of light.
LTC is the product of a White House policy directive from April hoping to “enable a future lunar ecosystem that could be scalable to other locations in our solar system,” NASA said.
“As the commercial space industry grows and more nations are active on the Moon, there is a greater need for time standardization,” said Dr. Ben Ashman, navigation lead for lunar relay development for NASA’s Space Communication and Navigation program.
“A shared definition of time is an important part of safe, resilient, and sustainable operations,” Ashman added.
