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The European Space Agency wants to give the moon its own time zone (www.cbc.ca)

submitted 2 years ago by dankeck to c/science

5 comments fedilink hide all child comments

For now, a moon mission runs on the time of the country that is operating the spacecraft. European space officials said an internationally accepted lunar time zone would make it easier for everyone, especially as more countries and even private companies aim for the moon and NASA gets set to send astronauts there.

H/T @makeworld@merveilles.town

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[–] Hirom 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Clocks run faster on the moon than on Earth, gaining about 56 microseconds each day

Sounds like there's going to be leap seconds on the moon too.

[–] atomicfurball 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I would argue that clocks don't really run faster on the moon. What runs faster on the moon is time. The clocks tick at the exact same speed, it is just that time itself is running faster on the moon than it runs on earth. So from the earth's perspective the clock is going faster when it really isn't.

[–] Hirom 5 points 2 years ago (1 children)

That's true, but it would still result in a shift in measured time between the moon and earth.

[–] atomicfurball 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Yes. But to make up that difference, clocks on the moon would have to tick slower than clocks on earth to keep syncronized. Or they could do what you suggested, and add a leap second in every once and a while.

[–] Hirom 2 points 2 years ago

Either leap seconds or relativistic timezones. I don't know which is worse.