NASA will place atomic clocks on the Moon to set its time

September 12 () –

Lunar time will be determined by a weighted average of atomic clocks placed on the Moon, so similar to how Earth’s Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is calculated.

NASA has explained how it will develop a lunar time standard (LTC) for exploration initiatives, following a commission from the White House last April.

Exactly where on the Moon it will be located remains to be determined, as current analyses indicate that atomic clocks placed on the lunar surface will appear to “tick” faster by microseconds per day. A microsecond is one millionth of a second. NASA and its partners are currently investigating which mathematical models will be best for establishing lunar time.

To put these numbers into perspective, a hummingbird’s wings beat about 50 times per second. Each wingbeat is about 0.02 seconds, or 20,000 microseconds. So, while 56 microseconds may seem minuscule, when you’re talking about distances in space, small fragments of time add up.

“For something traveling at the speed of light, 56 microseconds is enough time to travel the distance of about 168 football fields,” Cheryl Gramling, director of lunar position, navigation, timing and standards at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said in a statement.

“If someone is orbiting the Moon, an observer on Earth who is not compensating for the effects of relativity over the course of a day would think that the orbiting astronaut is approximately 168 football fields from where it actually is.”

As the agency’s Artemis campaign prepares to establish a sustained presence on and around the Moon, NASA’s SCaN team will establish a time standard on the Moon to ensure that the critical time difference does not impact the safety of future explorers. The time systems approach will also be scalable to Mars and other celestial bodies throughout our solar system, which will allow for long-term exploration.

“As the commercial space industry grows and more nations become actively involved in the Moon, there is a greater need for time standardization. A shared definition of time is an important part of safe, resilient and sustainable operations“said Dr. Ben Ashman, navigation lead for the Lunar Relay development, part of NASA’s SCaN program.