Recently, the White House directed NASA to establish a unified standard of time for the moon and other celestial bodies.
- The White House instructed NASA to work with other parts of the U.S. government to devise a plan by the end of 2026 for setting what it called a Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC).
- The differing gravitational force, and potentially other factors, on the moon and on other celestial bodies change how time unfolds relative to how it is perceived on Earth.
- Among other things, the LTC would provide a time-keeping benchmark for lunar spacecraft and satellites that require extreme precision for their missions.
Needs for LTC
- Most of the clocks and time zones of the world are based on Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is set by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Paris, France.
- UTC is essentially an internationally agreed upon standard for world time. It is tracked by a weighted average of more than 400 atomic clocks placed in different parts of the globe.
- UTC, however, cannot be used to determine time on the Moon.
- As there is less gravity on the Moon, time ticks slightly faster there relative to the time on the Earth, It means, a person on the moon, an Earth-based clock would appear to lose on average 58.7 microseconds per Earth-day.
