The coming decade will see a resurgence in lunar exploration - including dozens of missions and plans to establish permanent bases on the Moon. The endeavours pose myriad challenges. Among them is a subtle, but fundamental, question that metrologists worldwide are working to answer: what time is it on the Moon?
“We’re just starting to lay this out,” says Cheryl Gramling, an aerospace engineer who leads the position, navigation and timing team at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center.
The Moon doesn’t currently have an independent time. Each lunar mission uses its own timescale that is linked, through its handlers on Earth, to coordinated universal time, or UTC - the standard against which the planet’s clocks are set. But this method is relatively imprecise and spacecraft exploring the Moon don’t synchronize the time with each other, which will become a problem when there are multiple craft working together. Space agencies will also want to track them using satellite navigation, which relies on precise timing signals.
It’s not obvious what form a universal lunar time would take. Clocks on Earth and the Moon naturally tick at different speeds, because of the differing gravitational fields of the two bodies. Official lunar time could be based on a clock system designed to synchronize with UTC, or it could be independent of Earth time.
Representatives of space agencies and academic organizations worldwide met in November 2022 to start drafting recommendations on how to define lunar time and decisions must be made soon, says Patrizia Tavella, who leads the time department at the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in Sèvres, France. If an official lunar time is not established, space agencies and private companies will come up with their own solutions, she says. “This is why we want to raise an alert now, saying let’s work together to take a common decision.”
Today's Articles
Full Light Spectrum: A new photovoltaic panel can harness sunshine to harvest energy and food together, providing a potential win win for farmers.
Humble and World Famous: For decades, a “coral gardener” worked solo to restore reefs - now people are coming to him from around the world for help.
Pun-tastic: Lettuce introduce you to half a dozen foodie destinations with funny puns as their moniker.
3 Simple Habits to Reduce the Risk of a Stroke: 80 percent of strokes are preventable, so lifestyle choices are important.
More Good News Articles: Handful of the most popular recent OGN stories (and most watched video), if you'd like to catch up.