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Do you know what time it is? No, I don’t mean where you live … or Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) (also called Universal Coordinated Time (UCT). I mean on the Moon.
You see, we – we being humanity – haven’t agreed to a standard yet. Thanks to the Artemis Accords, that will change soon. The Artemis Accords have set up the political agreements needed to come up with a Coordinated Lunar Time (CLT). The project driving the accords is also driving the need to come up with the standard time measurement sooner rather than later. The goal is by the end of 2026.
You would think it would be simple, just slap the GMT up there. But remember we live in a Time-Space Continuum with a Unified Theory – one where we have discovered that GRAVITY impacts TIME. With a gravity 1/6th of earth, “lunar time gains about 58.7 microsecond per day compared to earth time.” (Thorsberg) That comes to about 0.02 seconds per year. That might seem like nothing to us humans, but for computers and calculations of landings on moving objects like planets and asteroids or sending supplies and communications between the Moon and Mars, 0.02 seconds mean the difference between a soft landing and a crash, between a communication hitting a dish or passing on forever through outer space.
More precision is needed. Especially with all the countries (dozens) and companies (hundreds) involved.
The situation gets even more fun (fun being what scientist find as intellectually challenging) because the gravity is so low on the Moon, the different between the highest spot on the Moon (near the Engel’gradt Crater) and the lowest spot in the Aitken Basin, (US Geological Survey) time passes noticeably different. At least at the level of calculations which matter to computers and interplanetary velocity calculations. The solution likely will involve atomic clocks at various locations and then averaging them, like we do here on Earth.
The Moon has helped Earth residents keep time for millennia. Now as we become Moon residents, it’s time to figure out a new way to track time.
Bibliography
Roulette, Joey and Dunham, Will. “Exclusive: White House directs NASA to create time standard for the moon.” Reuters. 2024 April 3. (https://www.reuters.com/science/white-house-directs-nasa-create-time-standard-moon-2024-04-02/ – last viewed 5/22/2024)
Smith, Marcia. “What Time is it on the Moon? OSTP Wants to Know.” SpacePolicyOnline.Com. 2024 April 2. (https://spacepolicyonline.com/news/what-time-is-it-on-the-moon-ostp-wants-to-know/ – last viewed 5/22/2024)
Thorsberg, Christian. “NASA Will Create a New Time Zone for the Moon, Called Coordinated Lunar Time.” Smithsonian Magazine. 2024 April 4. (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/the-moon-will-get-its-own-time-zone-called-coordinated-lunar-time-under-nasas-lead-180984076/ – last viewed 5/22/2024)
US Geological Survey Communications and Publishing. “Ever wonder what it would be like to wander around the Moon? Sky gazers can now journey there without leaving their desk.” USGS.gov. 2015 October 15. (https://www.usgs.gov/news/featured-story/visit-moon-without-leaving-your-desk#:~:text=The%20highest%20point%20on%20the%20lunar%20surface%20is,is%2029%2C836%20feet%20below%20the%20Moon%E2%80%99s%20average%20elevation. – last viewed 5/22/2024)