From NOTICE News Daily for March 1, 2023
“With dozens of lunar missions planned for the years ahead — including ones to build bases and other habitats on the moon — it may be time for some synchronicity, according to the European Space Agency. Time in space is usually calculated based on the time on Earth, but as different nations plan to operate on and around the moon, it may require a universal method for lunar timekeeping.” >> Full story from NBC News
TRANSCRIPT
Jonathan: Here’s a brain twister: if it’s 2 o’clock in Brooklyn, 11 o’clock in L.A., and 6 o’clock tomorrow in Sydney – what time is it on the moon?
That’s a serious question engineers and scientists are struggling with as mankind prepares to return to the moon’s surface.
Over the next decade, the U.S., China, Israel, and the European Union have all said they’re headed up there. To make things simpler – the European Space Agency has a simple answer: give the moon its own time zone.
They say establishing a universal lunar timezone will allow people in all timezones on Earth to coordinate with people working on the moon.
Time zones were initially developed to solve a similar problem.
They were first established in the late 1800s when long-distance rail travel became common, and coordination became necessary. But – there are a lot of hurdles to establishing a time zone for the moon though.
For one, time on Earth is measured by sunlight, which is completely different on the moon.
There’s also significantly less gravity on the moon than on Earth, making clocks tick slightly faster there, meaning the actual time keeping could get complicated. Whatever the solution, time is running low. NASA is hoping to land astronauts on the moon’s surface – in 2025.
