NEW DELHI: Nasa is spearheading efforts to create a standardized time system for the Moon, following a White House policy directive issued in April.

The agency’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program is leading this initiative to develop Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), which will be crucial for future lunar exploration and potentially scalable to other celestial bodies in our solar system.

The proposed lunar time standard will be based on a weighted average of atomic clocks placed on the Moon, similar to how Earth’s Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is calculated.

However, the exact lunar locations for these clocks are yet to be determined, as current analysis shows that atomic clocks on the Moon’s surface appear to tick faster by microseconds per day compared to Earth.

Cheryl Gramling, lead on lunar position, navigation, timing, and standards at Nasa Headquarters, emphasized the significance of these seemingly small time differences.

“For something traveling at the speed of light, 56 microseconds is enough time to travel the distance of approximately 168 football fields,” she explained. This time discrepancy could lead to significant positioning errors for lunar missions if not properly accounted for.

The establishment of LTC is critical for the safety and success of future lunar explorers, especially as Nasa’s Artemis campaign aims to establish a sustained presence on and around the Moon.

Dr. Ben Ashman, navigation lead for lunar relay development, highlighted the growing need for time standardization as commercial space activities expand and more nations become active on the Moon.

Nasa’s SCaN program, which oversees the agency’s space communications operations and navigation, will play a key role in implementing this lunar time standard. The program currently supports over 100 Nasa and non-Nasa missions through its Near Space Network and Deep Space Network.

As the agency works towards this goal, researchers are exploring the most suitable mathematical models for establishing lunar time.

The development of LTC is not only crucial for lunar missions but also serves as a stepping stone for future long-duration exploration of Mars and other celestial bodies in our solar system.

Agencies

Agencies