A new era of lunar exploration is on the rise. For instance, with the recent success of the Artemis 1 mission, we are getting closer to establishing a permanent presence on our natural satellite, Moon.
Image credit -Google
How do the current lunar missions operate?
Image credit -Google
Until now, every lunar mission has been operating at its own timescale exported from Earth. Deep space antennas are used to keep onboard chronometers synchronized with terrestrial time for two-way communications.
Image credit -Google
Fixing a common lunar timezone is not without challenges
Image credit -Google
The international team of space organizations would have to make a couple of decisions, one of which is if there should be a single organization responsible for establishing and maintaining the lunar time.
Image credit -Google
Clocks on the Moon run faster
Image credit -Google
Clocks on the Moon run faster, gaining about 56 microseconds or millionths of a second per day, depending on their position on the Moon.
Image credit -Google
Image credit -Google
"This will be quite a challenge"
Image credit -Google
"This will be quite a challenge on a planetary surface where in the equatorial region each day is 29.5 days long