The moon could have its own time zone: Space officials push to create standard lunar time
Ever wonder what time it is on the moon?
There's currently no standard clock for lunar time, but officials at the European Space Agency want to change that – especially as missions to the moon appear to be on the rise, with dozens planned in the coming decade.
On Monday, ESA noted that space organizations worldwide have begun "considering how to keep time on the moon." The issue was discussed during a November meeting at ESA’s European Space Research and Technology Centre in the Netherlands – as part of a larger conversation about essential lunar communication and navigation services.
"During this meeting at ESTEC, we agreed on the importance and urgency of defining a common lunar reference time," ESA navigation system engineer Pietro Giordano stated. "A joint international effort is now being launched towards achieving this."
Right now, without a standard lunar time, each moon mission runs on the time of the country that is operating the spacecraft.
ESA says that this "will not be sustainable however in the coming lunar environment" – pointing to NASA's plans set to send astronauts to the moon in the coming years, for example, as well as numerous uncrewed missions. More countries, and even private companies, are also aiming for the moon.
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Of course, establishing a common lunar reference time isn't an easy task.
Among topics of debate, ESA notes, is whether a single organization should set and maintain lunar time and "whether lunar time should be set on an independent basis on the moon or kept synchronised with Earth."
And there are significant technical issues. On the moon, clocks run faster than they do on Earth, ESA notes, gaining about 56 microseconds each day. Clocks' ticking rate is also different on the lunar surface than from orbit.
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"The agreed time system will also have to be practical for astronauts," Bernhard Hufenbach, a member of the Moonlight Management Team from ESA's Directorate of Human and Robotic Exploration, said in ESA's release.
"This will be quite a challenge on a planetary surface where in the equatorial region each day is 29.5 days long, including freezing fortnight-long lunar nights, with the whole of Earth just a small blue circle in the dark sky," Hufenbach continued. "But having established a working time system for the Moon, we can go on to do the same for other planetary destinations."
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Contributing: Associated Press.