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The International Astronomical Union (IAU) has joined efforts to establish a dedicated time zone for the Moon, supporting a plan led by NASA to create a new standard by 2026. The decision, discussed at the IAU’s General Assembly in Cape Town, South Africa, follows an April directive from the White House instructing NASA to design a lunar time system.
At present, space missions rely on the time zone of the country that launched them, but as more international partners prepare to operate on the Moon, experts say a unified system is necessary. A standardized lunar time, known as Lunar Coordinated Time (LTC), would improve communication, navigation, and scientific coordination between crews and spacecraft.
On Earth, global time is regulated through Coordinated Universal Time (UTC), which is calculated using 450 atomic clocks located in 85 laboratories worldwide. The Moon presents different challenges. Its weaker gravity and orbital dynamics cause time to run slightly faster by about 58.7 microseconds per Earth day compared to UTC.
Although the difference is tiny, researchers stress that even microsecond-level errors can affect navigation, spacecraft tracking, and synchronization of systems. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) recently highlighted how Earth-based UTC clocks would drift if used directly on the lunar surface.
A lunar time system would be set using atomic clocks adapted to the Moon’s gravity. These would allow astronauts and robotic missions to operate on a consistent schedule, avoiding discrepancies between countries and ensuring safety during complex missions such as NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon later this decade.
The IAU’s support reflects a growing international consensus that the Moon, as a shared space environment, will require its own infrastructure, including timekeeping. Establishing Lunar Coordinated Time is now seen as a critical step toward building long-term human presence beyond Earth.
