Amid the growing space race between nations and private companies, the United States is focusing its efforts on implementing international norms in space. As part of this project, the White House has tasked NASA with establishing a single time standard for the Moon. The space agency and other US government departments have been tasked with creating “coordinated lunar time” (LTC) by the end of 2026.
Why is there time in space?
In the coming years, NASA plans to send astronauts to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. The goal of this expedition will be to create a scientific lunar base that will help prepare space missions to Mars in the future.
However, without a single time standard for the Moon, ensuring uninterrupted and accurate data transmission between spacecraft will be impossible. There will also be difficulties in synchronizing communications between the Earth, satellites, space bases, and astronauts. Time differences will lead to errors in mapping and determining the location of astronauts or spacecraft on the Moon or its orbit.
Conventionally, the Earth’s clock on the Moon will lose an average of 58.7 microseconds per day, which is not much. However, due to other periodic fluctuations, lunar time will move away from Earth time much faster. By developing and implementing a single time standard for the Moon, it will be possible to achieve the accuracy required by vehicles and satellites to fulfill their missions.