NASA has been requested by the White House to establish a new time zone on the moon.
In order to create a standard for timekeeping, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), led by Arati Prabhakar, stated in a letter on Tuesday that the office wants NASA to establish a uniform standard time for the moon and “celestial bodies other than Earth.”NASA has been requested by the White House to establish a new time zone on the moon.
In order to create a standard for timekeeping, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), led by Arati Prabhakar, stated in a letter on Tuesday that the office wants NASA to establish a uniform standard time for the moon and “celestial bodies other than Earth.”
Coordinated Lunar Time, or LTC, is meant to help with upcoming space missions that need accurate science and navigation. According to Prabhakar’s letter, NASA needs to finish developing the time zone by the end of 2026.
The United States will cooperate with partners and allies to put people back on the moon “and develop capabilities to enable an enduring presence,” according to Prabhakar. In addition to foreign governments and private businesses, the United States expects “many other actors” to deploy spacecraft to the moon.
As far as scientific discoveries, economic development, and international collaboration are concerned, the new time zone is “fundamental.” The letter said that establishing a universal time for the moon will help increase the safety of space flight operations.
Since time moves differently on the moon, Prabhakar agreed that there are “important implications” that arise from establishing a standard time for the moon. Time flows 58.7 microseconds faster there than it does on Earth because of the reduced gravity.
“Due to general and special relativity, the length of a second defined on Earth will appear distorted to an observer under different gravitational conditions, or to an observer moving at a high relative velocity,” Prabhakar stated in the correspondence.
The letter states that cislunar space, or the region inside the moon’s orbit, needs a “consistent definition of time among users” in order to facilitate safe navigation.
Because more people are predicted to visit the moon, docking or landing a spaceship there will need “greater accuracy than current methods allow,” according to Prabhakar.
Being the first private spacecraft to accomplish so and the first American moon landing in over 50 years, the Odysseus lunar lander made a historic landing on the moon in February. Even though it overturned and had to abort its mission, excitement about what lay ahead for space exploration was evident at the launch.
In September 2026, astronauts are scheduled to land on the moon’s South Pole, having been sent around the moon by NASA in September 2025.
“We are grateful to those across the community who have contributed to date, and to those who continue to share their valuable knowledge to shape our collective understanding of this topic as we move forward,” Prabhakar wrote in the letter. “Exploration of Cislunar space opens a new sphere of human activity and offers opportunities to advance scientific understanding, exploration, and economic growth,” he continued.
