Coordinated Lunar Time

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Coordinated Lunar Time or LTC is a proposed primary lunar time standard for the Moon. [1] In early April 2024, NASA was asked by the White House to work alongside domestic and international agencies for the purpose of establishing a unified standard time for the Moon and other celestial bodies by 2026. [2] The White House's request, led by the Office of Science and Technology Policy, called for a "Coordinated Lunar Time", which was first proposed by the European Space Agency in early 2023. [1] [3]

Contents

Currently, the time on the Moon is different for each country involved. As a result, activities on the Moon are coordinated using the time zone of where a mission's headquarters is based. [4] For example, the Apollo missions utilized the Central Time Zone (CDT) as the missions were controlled from Houston, Texas. [5]

History

As part of an ongoing global billionaire space race [6] [7] and a wider international space race between the United States and China, [8] [9] a need exists for a universal time-keeping benchmark so that lunar spacecraft and satellites are able to fulfill their respective missions with precision and accuracy. [10] Due to differences in gravitational force and other factors, time passes fractionally faster on the Moon when observed from Earth. [11] [12]

Under the Artemis program, and supported by the Commercial Lunar Payload Services missions, astronauts and a proposed scientific "Moonbase" are envisioned to take place on and around the lunar surface from the 2020s onwards. [13] The proposed standard would therefore solve a current timekeeping issue. [14] According to OSTP Chief Arati Prabhakar, currently, time would "appear to lose on average 58.7 microseconds per Earth-day and come with other periodic variations that would further drift moon time from Earth time". [15]

The development of the standard is set to be a collaborative effort, initially amongst members of the Artemis Accords, but will be meant to apply globally. The initial proposal of the standard calls for four key features: [16]

LunaNet, an upcoming lunar communications and navigation service under development with the European Space Agency, calls for a Lunar Time System Standard which the LTC is meant to address. [17]

See also

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Timekeeping on the Moon is an issue of synchronized human activity on the Moon and contact with such. The two main differences to timekeeping on Earth is the length of a day on the Moon, being the lunar day or lunar month, observable from Earth as the lunar phases, and the differences between Earth and the Moon of how differently fast time progresses, with 24 hours on the Moon being 58.7 microseconds faster, resulting from the different masses of the Moon and Earth, the effect being called gravitational time dilation.

References

  1. 1 2 "Telling time on the Moon". European Space Agency . February 27, 2023. Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  2. ↑ Roulette, Joey; Dunham, Will (2024-04-03). "Exclusive: White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon". Reuters. Archived from the original on 2024-04-02. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  3. ↑ "Should the Moon Have a Time Zone? Europe Pushes for 'Lunar Reference Time'". NBC Philadelphia. March 1, 2023. Archived from the original on March 1, 2023.
  4. ↑ Rao, Joe (May 9, 2023). "What time is it on the moon? How a lunar clock debate led to an out-of-this-world timepiece". Space.com . Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 3, 2024.
  5. ↑ Gibney, Elizabeth (2023). "What time is it on the Moon?". Nature. 614 (7946): 13–14. Bibcode:2023Natur.614...13G. doi:10.1038/d41586-023-00185-z. PMID   36693973. S2CID   256230630. Archived from the original on 2023-04-03. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  6. ↑ Nguyen, Terry (February 2, 2022). "It's the dawn of a new space age — at least for billionaires". Vox . Retrieved April 9, 2024.
  7. ↑ Kuthunur, Sharmila (April 7, 2024). "White House directs NASA to create a new time zone for the moon". Space.com . Retrieved April 9, 2024.
  8. ↑ Roulette, Joey; Bhattacharjee, Nivedita; Woo, Ryan (January 12, 2024). "In moon race with China, U.S. setbacks test role of private firms". Reuters . Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  9. ↑ Tumlison, Rick (July 20, 2023). "Return to the moon: The race we have to win (again)". Space.com . Archived from the original on January 12, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  10. ↑ Lea, Robert (March 1, 2023). "Does the moon need its own time zone? We may need to decide soon". Space.com . Archived from the original on January 24, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  11. ↑ Ramirez-Simon, Diana (2024-04-03). "Moon Standard Time? Nasa to create lunar-centric time reference system". The Guardian. ISSN   0261-3077. Archived from the original on 2024-04-03. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  12. ↑ Kuthunur, Sharmila (2024-04-22). "What time is it on the Moon? We might soon know". Astronomy Magazine. Retrieved 2024-04-24.
  13. ↑ "Telling time on the Moon". www.esa.int. Archived from the original on 2024-04-03. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
  14. ↑ Thorsberg, Christian (April 4, 2024). "NASA Will Create a New Time Zone for the Moon, Called Coordinated Lunar Time". Smithsonian . Archived from the original on April 4, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  15. ↑ Irwin, Lauren (April 3, 2024). "NASA tasked with creating a time zone for the moon". The Hill . Archived from the original on April 3, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  16. ↑ Prabhakar, Arati (April 2, 2024). "Policy on Celestial Time Standardization in Support of the National Cislunar Science and Technology (S&T) Strategy" (PDF). The White House . Archived (PDF) from the original on April 4, 2024. Retrieved April 4, 2024.
  17. ↑ Foust, Jeff (2024-04-03). "White House directs NASA to develop lunar time standard". SpaceNews. Archived from the original on 2024-04-05. Retrieved 2024-04-03.
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