When you buy through affiliate links in our content, we may earn a commission at no extra cost to you. Learn 
In coordination with government stakeholders, partners, and international standards organizations, NASA is helping to establish a time standard for the Moon.
Efforts are being led by the agency’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program, which will calculate Lunar Time with a weighted average of atomic clocks at the Moon, similar to the way scientists currently calculate Earth’s Coordinated Universal Time (UTC).
Precisely where at the Moon is still to be established, as atomic clocks placed on the Moon’s surface “tick” faster by microseconds (one millionth of a second) per day.
That might not seem like much, but it all adds up when considering distance in space.
Cheryl Gramling, lead on lunar position, navigation, timing, and standards at NASA’s Washington HQ, explained, “For something traveling at the speed of light, 56 microseconds is enough time to travel the distance of approximately 168 football fields.”
That means an observer on Earth witnessing an astronaut orbiting the planet would think the astronaut was approximately 168 football fields away from their true location.
Coordinated Lunar Time is Key for Future Exploration
This is a big step for NASA as its Artemis program prepares to bring people back to the Moon. The new time standard will ensure that time differences don’t impact astronaut safety. It’s thought the approach could also be scalable to Mars and other planets in our solar system.
Dr. Ben Ashman, navigation lead for lunar relay development, said, “A shared definition of time is an important part of safe, resilient, and sustainable operations.
NASA and its partners are currently working to establish which mathematical models will be best suited for creating a lunar time.
