The story so far: In September 2025, NASA’s four-member Artemis crew is scheduled fly around the moon in preparation for the space agency’s mission to land on the moon again. To boost such scientific missions, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) on April 2, directed its space agency, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), to establish a Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) to standardise cislunar operations with the universal time followed on Earth.
Explaining the move, OSTP Deputy Director for National Security Steve Welby said, “A consistent definition of time among operators in space is critical to successful space situational awareness capabilities, navigation, and communications.”
Speaking about the difference between the passage of time on the moon and Earth, he said, “Time appears to pass more slowly where gravity is stronger, like near celestial bodies. As a result, the length of a second on Earth is different to an observer under different gravitational conditions, such as on the moon.”
