NASA Is Establishing a Time Zone for the Moon

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) announced that it is currently in the process of establishing a time zone for the moon.

Dubbed a “Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC),” the time “will be determined by a weighted average of atomic clocks at the Moon” in a manner similar to how the Earth’s Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) regulated. The exact placements of the atomic clocks on the moon have not been decided as of writing, however, as analysis show that the clocks will look like they are ticking faster by microseconds (one millionth of a second) per day. The establishment of the LTC will aid in building a future lunar ecosystem scalable to others in our solar system, as well as ensuring that astronauts on future missions will remain safe despite the time difference.

“To put these numbers into perspective, a hummingbird’s wings flap about 50 times per second,” NASA wrote in their announcement. “Each flap is about .02 seconds, or 20,000 microseconds. So, while 56 microseconds may seem miniscule, when discussing distances in space, tiny bits of time add up.”

“For something traveling at the speed of light, 56 microseconds is enough time to travel the distance of approximately 168 football fields,” said Cheryl Gramling, lead on lunar position, navigation, timing, and standards at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “If someone is orbiting the Moon, an observer on Earth who isn’t compensating for the effects of relativity over a day would think that the orbiting astronaut is approximately 168 football fields away from where the astronaut really is.”

The LTC will be established by NASA and led by the agency’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program, and is directed by the White House to complete this project by the end of 2026.