From Greenwich Mean to Eastern Standard, more than 30 time zones are in use today.
But one more may be added soon, and it would literally be out of this world.
The United States government has told NASA that it is necessary to create an official time zone for the Moon, because seconds pass a little faster there than on Earth.
This time zone, provisionally called Lunar Time Coordinated (LTC), would be used by astronauts living and working on the Moon later this decade.
The idea has already been floated by the European Space Agency, but the Biden administration has ordered NASA to officially establish ‘LTC’ by 2026.
The US government has told NASA that it is necessary to create an official time zone for the Moon, because seconds there pass a little faster than on Earth.
Our natural satellite, the Moon, may have its own time zone. This is because the White House ordered NASA to create a standard lunar time.
Because the Moon has a smaller mass than the Earth, the gravitational pull on the Moon is weaker.
As a result, time moves slightly faster on the Moon than on Earth: about 58.7 microseconds faster per day, “with ‘additional periodic variations,'” the US government says in a report. memorandum.
Although this is less than the blink of an eye, small time differences between Earth and the Moon could cause communication problems during future lunar missions.
“Time passes at a slightly different rate on the Moon due to its different gravity,” Sara Russell, professor of planetary sciences at the Natural History Museum, told MailOnline.
“That difference doesn’t matter at all for Earthlings, but it’s really important for coordinating complex electronic communications.
“Working out all of this is essential if we want to explore and ultimately live on the Moon.”
So far, it is unclear how a lunar time system would work or what a lunar clock would look like.
Dr Ruth Ogden, professor of time psychology at Liverpool John Moores University, said a simple adjustment to the types of clocks we have in our homes is “unlikely to be enough”, but called LTC a ” great idea”.
“We will probably need a lunar time scale that falls outside the traditional understanding of day and night time,” he told MailOnline.
“For astronauts on the Moon, having a time zone focused on their experience or on day and night on the Moon can help them acclimatize more quickly.”
On Earth, most clocks and time zones are based on Universal Coordinated Time (UCT), which It is based on a vast global network of ultra-precise atomic clocks.
Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is defined by sophisticated and ultra-precise ‘atomic clocks’ around the world, which operate precisely and continuously. Shown here are experts with the NIST-F2 atomic clock in the US.
These atomic clocks measure changes in the state of atoms and generate an average that ultimately constitutes precise time.
But because of gravitational differences, if these clocks were on the Moon, they would run about 58.7 microseconds faster per day.
“An atomic clock on the Moon will run at a different rate than a clock on Earth,” said Kevin Coggins, deputy associate administrator at NASA.
“It makes sense that when you go to another body, like the Moon or Mars, each one has its own heartbeat.”
Nations that venture to the lunar surface have long used their own country’s time zones when conducting missions.
For example, in the Apollo missions of the 1960s and 1970s, when man first set foot on the Moon, NASA used the Central Time Zone (CDT) when the missions launched in Houston, Texas.
But scientists have warned that this method will not be sustainable as space agencies around the world plan to establish lunar habitats.
Compared to Apollo visits, astronauts in the upcoming Artemis program will stay on the moon longer.
In the photo, astronaut Buzz Aldrin Jr. poses for a photo next to the American flag on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission, July 20, 1969. Artemis is considered the successor to Apollo.
NASA hopes to develop a sustainable lunar exploration program starting in 2028. This artist’s illustration shows what NASA’s Artemis Base Camp could look like.
NASA’s Artemis program began in 2022 with the first mission, which sent an unmanned Orion spacecraft around the moon and back.
The next mission, Artemis II, taking place in September 2025, will send four astronauts on a trip around the moon and back home.
Then, Artemis III, which will take place in September 2026, will actually land humans on the lunar surface, specifically in the south pole region of the moon.
Finally, as part of its Artemis program, NASA plans to establish a base camp in the southern region of the Moon later this decade.
NASA plans to send a crewed mission to Mars in the 2030s after the first Moon landing
Mars has become the next big step for humanity’s space exploration.
But before humans reach the red planet, astronauts will take a series of small steps as they return to the moon for a year-long mission.
Details of the lunar orbit mission have been revealed as part of a timeline of events that will lead to missions to Mars in the 2030s.
NASA has outlined its four-stage plan (pictured) that it hopes will one day allow humans to visit Mars at the Humans to Mars Summit held yesterday in Washington DC. This will involve multiple missions to the Moon in the coming decades.
In May 2017, Greg Williams, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for policy and plans, outlined the space agency’s four-phase plan that it hopes will one day allow humans to visit Mars, as well as its anticipated timeline.
Phase one and two It will involve multiple trips to lunar space, to allow the construction of a habitat that will provide a staging area for the trip.
The last piece of hardware delivered would be the deep space transport vehicle that would then be used to transport a crew to Mars.
And in 2027, a year-long simulation of life on Mars will take place.
Phases three and four will begin after 2030 and will involve sustained crewed expeditions to the Martian system and the surface of Mars.