{"id":56629,"date":"2024-04-03T13:13:54","date_gmt":"2024-04-03T13:13:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/20ff3749-b2c0-4d86-a416-bdad3e389745"},"modified":"2024-04-03T14:08:23","modified_gmt":"2024-04-03T14:08:23","slug":"whats-the-time-on-the-moon-nasa-has-been-tasked-establishing-a-universal-time-zone-for-the-moon-to-ensure-everyone-agrees","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcskyatnight\/rss_feed\/whats-the-time-on-the-moon-nasa-has-been-tasked-establishing-a-universal-time-zone-for-the-moon-to-ensure-everyone-agrees\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s the time on the Moon? NASA has been tasked establishing a universal time-zone for the Moon to ensure everyone agrees"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Ezzy Pearson\n <\/p>

Published: Wednesday, 03 April 2024 at 13:13 PM<\/p>

\n\n

NASA has been officially tasked with establishing a standard time-zone on the Moon<\/a>, Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), in a memo<\/a> issued by the White House\u2019s Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).<\/p>

LTC will be tied to Co-ordinated Universal Time (UTC) which is used as the global standard here on Earth.<\/p>

However, Moon-time will need to differ as the effects of relativity means that time actually runs differently there.<\/p>

Why does the Moon need its own time-zone?<\/h2>

\u201cTime passes differently in different parts of space<\/a>,\u201d says Steve Welby, deputy director for National Security at the OSTP.<\/p>

\u201cFor example, time appears to pass more slowly where gravity is stronger, like near celestial bodies \u2013 and as a result the length of a second on Earth is different to an observer under different gravitational conditions, such as on the Moon.\u201d<\/p>

Time runs differently on Earth compared to the Moon. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>

As Earth has 81 times the mass of the Moon, time appears to run slightly slower on our planet. To an observer on the Moon, an Earth-based clock would appear to lose 58.7 microseconds every Earth-day, or one second every 46 Earth-years.<\/p>

While this would make no difference to humans, it has a huge impact on machines operating at the Moon.<\/p>

They require precise timing to stay in formation and correctly align their communications arrays.<\/p>

One example of a potential issue is spacecraft using range-finding \u2013 bouncing lasers off an object, then using the return time to calculate the distance.<\/p>

\"A
Spacecraft use the return time of a laser to measure distances. Credit: NASA<\/figcaption><\/figure>

If two spacecraft attempted to dock where one was running on Earth time and the other on lunar time, the discrepancy could cause them to disagree about their distance resulting in them missing each other or even crashing.<\/p>

A similar problem effects GPS satellites<\/a>, which differ by around 7 nanoseconds per day compared with Earth.<\/p>

Return to the Moon<\/h2>

The need for a standard time-zone on the Moon has become a much more pressing issue, as recent years have seen a surge of renewed interest in the Moon<\/a>.<\/p>

In 2009, Chandrayaan-1 first found signs of water at the lunar south pole<\/a> \u2013 not only was the discovery scientifically important, it is a potential resource for future space exploration.<\/p>