The White House asks NASA to create a new time zone for the moon

The White House published, on Tuesday, a Policy note Directing NASA to create a new lunar time standard by 2026. Lunar Coordinated Time (LTC) will create an official time reference to help guide future lunar missions. It arrives with the advent of a 21st century space race between (at least) the United States, China, Japan, India, and Russia.

The memorandum directs NASA to work with the Departments of Commerce, Defense, State, and Transportation to plan a strategy to put LTC into effect by December 31, 2026. International cooperation will also play a role, especially with signatories of the Artemis Accords. Established in 2020, the Principles are a set of principles shared by a growing list of (currently) 37 countries that govern the principles of space exploration and operation. China and Russia are not part of this group.

“As NASA, private companies, and space agencies around the world launch missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, it is important that we set celestial time standards for safety and accuracy,” said OSTP Deputy Director for National Security Steve Welby. books In a White House press release. “Consistent definition of time between operators in space is critical to the success of space situational awareness, navigation, and communications capabilities, all of which are key to enabling interoperability across the U.S. government and with international partners.”

Einstein’s theories of relativity dictate that time varies with speed and gravity. Due to the Moon’s weaker gravity (and the differences in motion between it and Earth), time moves a little faster there. So it appears that the Earth clock on the Moon gains an average of 58.7 microseconds per Earth day. As the United States and other countries plan missions to the Moon for research, exploration, and (eventually) building bases for permanent residence, using a single standard will help them synchronize technology and missions that require precise timing.

“The same clock on Earth will move at a different rate on the Moon,” said Kevin Coggins, NASA’s chief of space communications and navigation. Tell Reuters. “Think of the atomic clocks at the US Naval Observatory (in Washington). They are the beating heart of the nation, coordinating everything. You would want to have a heartbeat on the moon.

The White House wants LTC to coordinate with Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), the standard by which all time zones on Earth are measured. Her memo says she wants the new time zone to enable precise navigation and scientific endeavours. It also wants LTC to maintain its resilience if contact with Earth is lost while providing scalability to space environments “beyond the Earth-Moon system.”

NASA’s Artemis program aims to send manned missions to the Moon for the first time since the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s. The space agency said in January that the Artemis 2 rover, which will fly around the moon with four people on board, is now scheduled to launch in September 2025. The Artemis 3 mission, which plans to return humans to the lunar surface, is now scheduled to launch In 2026.

In addition to the United States, China aims to send astronauts to the moon Before 2030 As the world’s two most important global superpowers take their race into space. Although no other country has announced manned lunar missions, except India (which placed a module and rover on the lunar south pole last year), Russia (around the same time its mission did not go well), and the United Arab Emirates. Japan, South Korea and private companies have demonstrated lunar ambitions in recent years.

In addition to enabling further scientific exploration, technological establishment and resource extraction, the Moon could serve as a crucial stop on the way to Mars. It can test technologies and provide fuel and supplies needed for eventual human missions to the Red Planet.