White House instructs NASA to create standard time for the Moon | Clocks

The White House has ordered the US space agency NASA to establish a unified time standard for the Moon and other celestial bodies, at a time when the United States aims to establish international standards in space, amid a growing lunar race between nations and private companies.

The head of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), according to a memo seen by Reuters, instructed NASA to work with other US government entities to develop a plan by end of 2026 to define what is called Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC).

Differences in gravitational force, and potentially other factors, on the Moon and other celestial bodies change the way time unfolds relative to how it is perceived on Earth. Among other things, the LTC would provide a timing reference for spacecraft and lunar satellites that require extreme precision for their missions.

“The same clock we have on Earth would move at a different speed on the Moon,” said Kevin Coggins, NASA’s chief of space communications and navigation, in an interview.

The memo from OSTP chief Arati Prabhakar said that, to a person on the Moon, a clock on Earth would appear to lose, on average, 58.7 microseconds per Earth day and would show other periodic variations that would further deviate from lunar time. of terrestrial time.

“Think of the atomic clocks at the US Naval Observatory in Washington. They are the heartbeat of the nation, synchronizing everything. We’re going to want a heartbeat on the Moon,” he said. Kevin Coggins.

Under its Artemis program, NASA aims to send astronaut missions to the Moon in the coming years and establish a scientific lunar base that could help set the stage for future missions to Mars. Dozens of companies, spacecraft and countries are involved in this effort.

An OSTP official stated that without a unified lunar standard, it would be difficult to ensure the security of data transfer between spacecraft, as well as the synchronization of communications between Earth, lunar satellites, lunar bases and astronauts.

Discrepancies in timing can also lead to errors in mapping and locating positions on the Moon or its orbit, the official said.

“How disturbing”

“Imagine if the world wasn’t synchronizing its clocks at the same time – how disruptive that could be and how challenging everyday things would become,” the official said.

On Earth, most clocks and time zones are based on Coordinated Universal Time, or UTC. This internationally recognized standard is based on a vast global network of atomic clocks placed in different locations around the world. These clocks measure changes in the state of atoms and generate an average that ultimately constitutes an accurate time.

Installing atomic clocks on the lunar surface may be necessary, according to the OSTP official.

The official also said that as commercial activities expand to the Moon, a unified time standard will be essential to coordinate operations, ensure the reliability of transactions and manage the logistics of lunar trade.

In January, NASA announced that it had scheduled its first lunar landing with astronauts since the end of the Apollo program in the 1970s for September 2026, with a mission with four astronauts around the Moon and back scheduled for September 2025.

Although the United States is the only country to have placed astronauts on the Moon, others have lunar ambitions. Countries are eyeing the Moon’s potential mineral resources, and lunar bases could help support future manned missions to Mars and beyond.

China said last year that it aims to land its first astronauts on the Moon by 2030. In January, Japan became the fifth country to land a spacecraft on the Moon. Last year, India became the first country to land a spacecraft near the unexplored lunar South Pole and announced plans to send an astronaut to the Moon by 2040.

“U.S. leadership in defining an appropriate standard – a standard that achieves the precision and resilience necessary to operate in the challenging lunar environment – ​​will benefit all nations engaged in space travel,” the OSTP memorandum states.

Defining how Coordinated Lunar Time will be applied will require international agreements, the memo says, through “existing standardization bodies” and among the 36 nations that have signed a pact called the Artemis Accords involving how countries act in space and land. Moon. China and Russia, the United States’ two main rivals in space, have not signed the Artemis Accords.

Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) could influence how Coordinated Lunar Time is implemented, the OSTP official said. The United Nations International Telecommunication Union defines Coordinated Universal Time as an international standard.