Coordinated lunar time: researchers propose time bridges
Future missions will need their own lunar time. Researchers are also looking into the question of how this can be synchronized with Earth time.
(Image: Elena11/Shutterstock)
A dedicated clock on the moon should pave the way for future lunar missions and permanent colonization of the Earth's satellite. US researchers have now found a possible solution for reliable time measurement and published it in the Astronomical Journal. The question of how this lunar time can be brought into line with Earth time is also of great importance.
The researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new "lunar time" reference for this purpose. Similar to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) on Earth, this is intended to synchronize the entire moon to a time zone adapted to the moon's gravity. Simply adopting the Earth's time measurement was out of the question: atomic clocks on the moon tick around 56 microseconds faster per day than on Earth. This is due to the moon's weaker gravitational field and follows from the general and special theory of relativity.
Small differences, big effects
What sounds like little difference is a major problem for systems that work very precisely with time, such as for spaceship maneuvers or reliable communication with Earth. Ultra-precise time data is also essential for a lunar GPS system for navigation on the moon.
In spring, the White House instructed NASA to develop a uniform time standard for the moon and other celestial bodies. The USA has in mind the installation of a series of atomic clocks on the moon. The international standard should also be shared with partners - whether this includes other countries with moon missions such as China or Russia is unclear. The NIST researchers make another suggestion: satellites at the Lagrange points between the Earth and the Moon could also be used to create a kind of "time bridge" with high-precision atomic clocks. This could coordinate the time between the Earth and the moon more precisely.
Goal: to implement by the end of 2026
As part of the Artemis program, the USA is planning to build a space station in lunar orbit over the next ten years. In the spring, the White House set the end of 2026 as the time horizon for implementing the standardization of lunar time.
(mki)