United States Assigns NASA to Set Standard Time Zone for the Moon

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JAKARTA – Government United States of America has commissioned its space agency, NASAto fix time zone standard for moonwhich will be known as Coordinated Lunar Time (CLT).

In a memo issued on April 2, 2024, the US Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) stated: “Federal agencies will develop space time standards with an initial focus on surface moon and missions operating in Cislunar space (the area inside orbit moon), with sufficient tracking capabilities to support missions to other celestial bodies.”

“Traceability” means the CLT can stay in sync with time zone on earth.

The memo outlines the following features for the new CLT:

Traceability to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC – a compromise for English and French speakers);

Sufficient accuracy to support precision navigation and science;

Resistance to loss of contact with the Earth (meaning the CLT can operate independently of the Earth);

Scalability to space environments beyond the Earth-Moon system (meaning other space stations beyond the Moon can also use CLT).

Don’t expect an app time zone and your favorite calendar has CLT as an option; NASA has until the end of 2026 to establish a CLT.

Why moon need time zonehimself?

In layman’s terms, we need an earth synchronization system “time”. moon” which is reliable due to the lower gravity in moon causing time to move slightly faster there than on Earth – just 58.7 microseconds (there are 1 million microseconds in a second) faster than one second every 24 Earth hours.

It’s not science fiction, although it is a major feature of Hollywood blockbusters like Interstellar. Known as “gravitational time dilation”, the passage of time is influenced by gravity.

Although small, this time difference can cause problems with the synchronization of satellites and space stations in orbit moon.

An unnamed OSTP official told : “Imagine if the world didn’t synchronize their clocks to the same time – how disruptive this would be and how challenging everyday things would be.”

How do we know the time in moon?

Earth uses UTC or Coordinated Universal Time to synchronize time zone around the world. UTC is determined by more than 400 atomic clocks kept in national “time laboratories” in about 30 countries around the world. Atomic clocks use atomic vibrations to achieve extreme precision in recording time.

A similar atomic clock will be placed in moon to get an accurate time reading.

Known as Positioning, Navigation and Timing (PNT), this precise timing system allows communications systems to measure and keep time accurately.

The Ordnance Survey, a British organization producing maps since 1791, explains that the PNT has three core elements:

Positioning – the ability to precisely determine one’s location and orientation, especially two-dimensionally on a printed map, although three-dimensional orientation can be determined when necessary.

Navigation – the ability to determine the current position and desired position (both relative and absolute), and apply corrections to course, orientation, and speed to reach the desired position from anywhere in the world, from subsurface (below the Earth’s surface) to surface, and from surface to space.

Timekeeping – the ability to maintain accurate and precise time from anywhere in the world.

is NASA have plans for time zone in other parts of space?

Although it hasn’t been mentioned yet time zone on another planet, in 2019, the Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) mission NASA testing atomic clocks to improve spacecraft navigation in outer space.

The DSAC mission with SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket was launched on June 22, 2019. The rocket tested an atomic clock in Earth orbit for one year.

Typically, spacecraft keep accurate time by bouncing signals off atomic clocks on Earth and then sending those signals back to the spacecraft.

In this mission, the onboard atomic clock was tested to keep precise time without relying on two-way communication between the spacecraft and atomic clocks on Earth. Timing accuracy is related to obtaining an accurate position, while helping the spacecraft reach the desired location in space successfully.

As explained by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory NASAcenter for robotic exploration of the solar system: “A two-way system that sends signals from Earth to the spacecraft, back to Earth and then to the spacecraft again will take an average of 40 minutes.”

Imagine if the GPS on your phone took 40 minutes to calculate your position. You may miss a turn or exit several times on the highway before it catches up with you.

If humans travel to the Red Planet [Mars]it would be better if the system were one-way, allowing explorers to immediately determine their current position rather than waiting for that information to come from Earth.

The mission successfully ended in 2021, with the atomic clock on board maintaining precise navigation time and position.