The White House directed the US space agency NASA to establish a unified time zone for the moon, as the United States faces competition with several countries, including China, Russia, and private companies, which are also turning their attention to space.
The Washington Post said that a memorandum was issued on Tuesday by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy explaining the desire of the administration of US President Joe Biden to “establish time standards at and around celestial bodies other than Earth.”
The memo also directs the space agency to “develop a unified astronomical time with initial focus on the lunar surface” by December 2026.
The memorandum says that the unified time standard will be known as Uniform Lunar Time (LTC).
According to the memorandum, there is a need for a unified time reference because the Moon’s gravity is weaker than Earth’s due to its smaller mass, which means that time moves slightly faster on the Moon than on Earth, with additional periodic variations.
The memo said the project, which was first reported by Reuters, would be important because “knowing time…is essential to scientific discovery, economic development, and international cooperation that forms the foundation of American leadership in space.”
“Clocks run faster on the moon,” said astronomer and professor of astrophysics at the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, Catherine Heymans.
Heymans added that a day on the moon is also different from a day on Earth, indicating that a lunar day is equal to 29.5 Earth days.
She continues, “This means that on the moon, the sun shines for approximately two terrestrial weeks, and then darkness and night fall for approximately the following two terrestrial weeks.”
The White House memo says one of the main reasons for the time consolidation is due to the fact that the United States plans to “return humans to the Moon and develop capabilities to enable a permanent presence” there.
NASA’s “Artemis Moon” program aims to achieve the United States’ goal of returning astronauts to the moon for the first time in more than 50 years.
The “Artemis 2” mission aims to send a human crew around the moon, and its crew will include the first woman, the first African American, and the first Canadian to fly on a mission to the moon.
NASA hopes to launch the “Artemis 3” mission, which will include a human landing on the moon, by September 2026.
The White House’s efforts to establish a unified timing for the moon come at a time when China, India, Russia, Japan and other countries are pressing for a greater presence in space.
China, in particular, has said it aims to land its first astronauts on the moon before 2030.
Private companies are also working on developing initiatives to send commercial spacecraft to the surface of the moon and its orbit, to benefit from them in the field of scientific research and mineral extraction.
