NASA is creating a single time standard for the Moon and other celestial bodies, the White House stated on Tuesday, in response to growing competition in space from both public and commercial space companies.
The US space agency was given instructions by the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to develop a plan by the end of 2026 for a standard that it is dubbing Coordinated Lunar Time.
“As NASA, private companies, and space agencies around the world launch missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, it’s important that we establish celestial time standards for safety and accuracy,” OSTP Deputy Director for National Security Steve Welby said in a statement.
He noted how “time passes differently” depending on positions in space, offering the example of how time appears to pass more slowly where gravity is stronger, such as near celestial bodies.
“A consistent definition of time among operators in space is critical to successful space situational awareness capabilities, navigation, and communications,” Welby said.
Coordinated Lunar Time, or LTC, is intended to be linked to Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is now the main time standard used globally to control Earth’s time, according to the White House.
To provide a time standard plan that will enhance navigation and other operations, particularly for missions in cislunar space—the area between Earth and the Moon—the White House has asked NASA to collaborate with the Departments of Commerce, Defense, State, and Transportation.
The brief, AFP reports, had few technical details for creating a lunar time standard, although OSTP proposed that it may incorporate parts of the Earthly standard.
“Just as Terrestrial Time is set through an ensemble of atomic clocks on Earth, an ensemble of clocks on the Moon might set Lunar Time,” added the statement.
NASA to make moon landing in 2026
In 2026, the United States intends to make its first lunar landing since the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
NASA had planned to send four astronauts around the moon late this year but pushed the flight to September 2025. The first human moon landing in more than 50 years also got bumped, from 2025 to September 2026.
NASA cited safety concerns with its own spacecraft, as well as development issues with the moonsuits and landers coming from private industry.
“Safety is our top priority,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. The delays will “give Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges.”
NASA is relying heavily on private companies for its Artemis moon-landing program for astronauts, named after the mythological twin sister of Apollo.
SpaceX’s Starship mega rocket will be needed to get the first Artemis moonwalkers from lunar orbit down to the surface and back up.
In February the Odysseus lunar lander, nicknamed “Odie,” or IM-1, became the first US-made spacecraft to touch down on the moon in more than 50 years.