The world’s two biggest powers – China and the United States – appear to be locked in a race to decide what time it is on the moon, and the winner will leave its mark on the history of space exploration while setting a new standard for future lunar missions.
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The US and its space partners are attempting to establish a special time zone for the moon. Meanwhile, rivals China and Russia remain outside the US-led initiative, leaving Beijing to pursue its own lunar timing and navigation system.
Prompted by a White House directive, Nasa is spearheading the creation of a new time standard, Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC), to support safe and sustainable exploration as more nations and private companies plan missions to the moon, the agency said on its website last month.
The proposed time system will be adopted by signatories of the US-led Artemis Accords and is intended to serve as “the international standard”, according to a memorandum from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy issued in April.
“Knowledge of time in distant operating regimes is fundamental to the scientific discovery, economic development, and international collaboration that form the basis of US leadership in space,” the memo stated.
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Namrata Goswami, a space policy researcher at Arizona State University, said the White House directive was based on the fact that lunar activities, including manned and unmanned missions, would increase, requiring a common time zone for better coordination between the Artemis signatory countries.