NASA wants to design new clock for the moon, where time passes quickly

NASA plans to create a timekeeping system that is so advanced that it can place the moon on its own advanced clock.  

It is a whole frame of reference for the moon's time, not quite a time zone like those on Earth. Time on the moon is slightly faster than on Earth, averaging 58.7 microseconds per day due to the absence of gravity. Therefore, to develop a new moon-centric time reference system, the White House gave NASA and other US agencies instructions to collaborate with foreign organizations on Tuesday.  

"A lunar atomic clock will have a distinct ticking rate compared to an Earthly clock," stated NASA's chief communications and navigation officer Kevin Coggins. "It makes sense to visit a different body, such as the moon or Mars that each one gets its own heartbeat.” 

So everything on the moon will operate on the speeded-up moon time, Coggins said. 

The last time NASA sent astronauts to the moon they wore watches, but timing wasn't as precise and critical as it now with GPS, satellites and intricate computer and communications systems, he said. Those microseconds matter when high tech systems interact, he said. 

Last year, the European Space Agency said Earth needs to come up with a unified time for the moon, where a day lasts 29.5 Earth days. 

The International Space Station, being in low Earth orbit, will continue to use coordinated universal time or UTC. But just where the new space time kicks in is something that NASA has to figure out. Even Earth's time speeds up and slows down, requiring leap seconds. 

Unlike on Earth, the moon will not have daylight saving time, Coggins said. 

The White House wants NASA to come up with a preliminary idea by the end of the year and have a final plan by the end of 2026. 

NASA is aiming to send astronauts around the moon in September 2025 and land people there a year later.